Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., based in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, is the world's largest first-tier

aerostructure An aerostructure is a component of an aircraft's airframe. This may include all or part of the fuselage, wings, or flight control surfaces. Companies that specialize in constructing these components are referred to as "aerostructures manufacturer ...

s manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the

787 787 may refer to: * Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a jet airliner * AD 787, a year * 787 BC, a year * Mazda 787/787B, a Japanese rotary-engine race car which won the 1991 Le Mans Race * Porsche 787, a race car from the 1960s * 787 series, a train model o ...

fuselage, and the cockpit section of the fuselage (referred to as "Section 41" by Boeing) of nearly all of its airliners. Spirit also produces fuselage sections and front wing spars for the

Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 ...

. Spirit's main competition comes from Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division, Collins Aerospace, Leonardo, and

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (or simply Kawasaki) is a Japanese public multinational corporation manufacturer of motorcycles, engines, heavy equipment, aerospace and defense equipment, rolling stock and ships, headquartered in Chūō, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is ...

History

Boeing-Whichata B-29 Assembly Line - 1944

Spirit was formed when Boeing Commercial Airplanes sold its Wichita division to investment firm Onex.

Boeing Defense, Space & Security Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) is a division (business unit) of The Boeing Company based in Arlington, Virginia. It is responsible for defense and aerospace products and services. It was formerly known as Boeing Integrated Defense System ...

retained its military business in Wichita, which lay on neighboring land, until Boeing sold most of those properties to Air Capital Flight Line. The Wichita division was responsible for construction of many important aircraft in Boeing's history, including the

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 F ...

B-47 Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft. ...

, and B-52 Stratofortress. Spirit can trace its legacy back even further to

Stearman Aircraft Stearman Aircraft Corporation was an aircraft manufacturer in Wichita, Kansas. Although the company designed a range of other aircraft, it is most known for producing the Model 75, which is commonly known simply as the "Stearman" or "Boeing ...

, which was founded on the same site; Stearman later became part of Boeing. Spirit also includes North American Aviation's former

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

and McAlester facilities (both in Oklahoma), as well as additional facilities in

Kinston, NC Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 21,677 as of the 2010 census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the coastal plains region of e ...

Prestwick, Scotland Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

, Saint-Nazaire, France, and Subang, Malaysia. In June 2016, it was announced that Tom Gentile was named CEO, replacing Larry Lawson.

Acquisitions

On January 31, 2006, BAE Systems announced it had agreed to sell its aerostructures business, based at

Glasgow Prestwick Airport Glasgow Prestwick Airport () is an international airport serving the west of Scotland, situated northeast of the town of Prestwick in South Ayrshire and southwest of Glasgow. It is the less busy of the two airports serving the western part of ...

and

Samlesbury Aerodrome Samlesbury Aerodrome is a disused airfield at Balderstone near Samlesbury and Blackburn in Ribble Valley district of Lancashire. The aerodrome is owned by defence company BAE Systems which uses the site for the manufactured of several differ ...

, to Spirit.Onex' Spirit AeroSystems To Acquire BAE Systems Aerostructures
" Official press release. The BAE unit, which was renamed Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) Ltd., is a major supplier to

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...

(5%),

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...

(80%), and Boeing (15%). The transaction was completed on April 1, 2006. Spirit paid GBP 80 million for the business. On October 31, 2019, Spirit acquired

Bombardier Aviation Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer CS ...

's aerostructures activities and aftermarket services operations in Northern Ireland (

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

) and Morocco, and its aerostructures maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Dallas. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2020 subject to regulatory approval. The deal gives Spirit a bigger place in Airbus' supply chain, in particular with the wings for the

Airbus A220 The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launched on 13 July ...

that are produced in the Belfast plant.

Spirit AeroSystems

In 2010, 96% of Spirit's revenue came from its two largest customers: 85% of sales were from Boeing, 11% from Airbus. In 2009 these two customers represented 96% of sales for Spirit as well."https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1364885/000095012311016606/d78727e10vk.htm After planning to take Spirit public,Spirit AeroSystems Planning Initial Public Offering
" ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''. June 30, 2006. at

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

on November 21, 2006, the firm's stock rose 10% on the first day.UPDATE: Spirit Aero, AerCap Lift Off Post-IPO >SPR AER
" ''

''. November 21, 2006. In November 2006, Onex owned 58% of Spirit, which resulted in 92% of voting power, as its shares conferred "supervoting" power. The chief architect of the Onex purchase of Spirit was

Nigel S. Wright Nigel S. Wright (born May 18, 1963) is a Canadians, Canadian businessman and lawyer. He served as the thirteenth Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Canada), Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister (Canada), Office of the Prime Minist ...

, who was later Chief of Staff for the Canadian Prime Minister until his resignation as part of an expense scandal. In August 2014 the Onex Group sold all of its remaining shares of Spirit. Over the course of the nine-year investment, the Onex Group received aggregate proceeds of approximately $3.2 billion on its initial $375 million investment. Former House

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

Richard Gephardt Richard Andrew Gephardt (; born January 31, 1941) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who served as a United States Representative from Missouri from 1977 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was House Majority Leader fro ...

( D- MO) serves as a labor consultant for Spirit and sits on its board of directors."Richard A. Gephardt Joins Onex Team"
Spirit Aero news release 2005-04-29 (PDF)

Facilities

;United States *

(headquarters & manufacturing plant) (ex- Stearman/Boeing) *

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

(ex-North American/Rockwell/Boeing) *

Kinston, North Carolina Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 21,677 as of the 2010 census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the coastal plains region of ...

(manufacturing plant at

Global TransPark The North Carolina Global TransPark (GTP) is a 2,500 acre, multi-modal industrial/airport site in Eastern North Carolina. As an agency of the State of North Carolina, the GTP is considered a key engine for driving the economy of Eastern North Caro ...

) ;United Kingdom *

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom (

, ex- Bombardier) *

Samlesbury Samlesbury () is a village and civil parish in South Ribble, Lancashire, England. Samlesbury Hall, a historic house, is in the village, as is Samlesbury Aerodrome and a large modern brewery owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev. The population at the ...

, England, United Kingdom (small office on BAE Systems site) *

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

, Scotland, United Kingdom (ex-

Scottish Aviation Scottish Aviation Limited was an aircraft manufacturer based at Prestwick, Scotland. History The company was founded in 1935. Originally a flying school operator, the company took on maintenance work in 1938. During the Second World War, Scott ...

BAe BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

/BAE) ;France * Saint-Nazaire, France (manufacturing plant) ; Malaysia *

Subang Subang may refer to: Indonesia * Subang, Kuningan, a town and district in Kuningan Regency, West Java * Subang Regency, a regency of West Java ** Subang, Subang, a town and district in Subang Regency, West Java Malaysia *Subang (federal constitue ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

(manufacturing plant) ; Russia *

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, Russia (joint venture)

References

External links

*
"Spirit gets first shot at non-Boeing job"
''

Wichita Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...

'', October 16, 2005
"Spirit plans mega project with $1 billion investment and 1,000 more jobs in Wichita"
'' The Wichita Eagle'', December 6, 2017 {{Authority control 2005 establishments in Kansas Aircraft manufacturers of the United States American companies established in 2005 Companies based in Wichita, Kansas Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Manufacturing companies based in Kansas Manufacturing companies established in 2005 Onex Corporation