Boeing Buys Back Spirit: 'We Sold Off Our Problems, and They Came Home'
The $4.7 billion deal to fold Spirit AeroSystems back into Boeing—after the door plug blowout exposed two decades of outsourcing quality control—and the awkward homecoming that followed.
"We spent twenty years making Boeing safer by pushing risk onto a supplier. January fifth proved that risk never went away. It just got a post office box." In July 2024, Boeing agreed to reacquire Spirit AeroSystems, the Wichita-based fuselage maker it had spun off in 2005, for about $4.7 billion. The deal was a direct consequence of the January 5, 2024 Alaska Airlines door plug blowout, which traced back to a fuselage section Spirit had built and shipped. After two decades of outsourcing, Boeing was buying its biggest quality problem back.
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- The blowout changes everything
- The homecoming decision
- The awkward transfer