After the split of Spirit AeroSystems by Boeing and Airbus, the future of a British aerospace facility is uncertain. Up to 2,400 jobs are at risk.
The future of the Belfast factory is in danger because a large part of Spirit’s Belfast operations has been left unowned.
Boeing will buy Kansas-based Spirit, for $4.7bn ($3.7bn), to gain control over a key provider of the troubled 737 Max aircraft while offloading its operations that supply components to Airbus.
Airbus will take control of a portion of the Belfast facility that is responsible for wing and fuselage manufacturing of the Airbus A220 Regional Jet.
Boeing has said that it is looking for an alternative buyer to buy the remaining parts of Spirit’s Belfast operations, which neither manufacturer would be willing to purchase.
If this deal fails, the entire facility will be no longer commercially viable. It is the largest manufacturer in Northern Ireland.
George Brash, regional office for Unite’s trade union, stated: “This agreement provides no clarity about the future of most employees at Spirit Belfast.”
Our fear is the dismantling and loss of jobs. In Northern Ireland, we’re talking about an enormous number of jobs.
Unite reports that the unwanted operations, which include producing fuselages and tail sections of Bombardier jets, and housings of Rolls-Royce engines for Spirit, make up 40pc but a large part of its Belfast workforce of 3,600.
Gavin Robinson, DUP leader, slammed the plan for being only a partial solution.
He said: “My preferred option would be to have a single purchaser for the whole site.” This is the best solution to ensure all jobs are secure and the site will be sustainable.
Harland & Wolff (), Titanicshipbuilder,, a Northern Irish company, halted the trading of its shares after the threat was made to the Belfast facility, which used to be the headquarters of Short Brothers.
Six weeks after Treasury threatened to withhold vital funding, auditors refused to sign off the company’s accounts.
Boeing stated that as part of the deal to acquire Spirit, it is proposing to transfer non-Airbus operations in Belfast to another party. Sources say that’s a declaration and there is no chance of a sale.
Airbus has confirmed that they will be taking on operations such as wing production at Belfast, and other A220-related work in the US, Morocco and the manufacturing of fuselage segments for the A350 wide body plane in the US, France and Morocco.
Airbus will compensate Spirit with a nominal payment of $1, while also receiving $559m for taking on the responsibility for unprofitable operations.
Airbus has said that if a buyer cannot be found for its subsidiary in Prestwick (Scotland) which manufactures wing slats and struts for the A320, it will be willing to assume the business as it continues to work through the record backlog of orders for this popular single-aisle aircraft.
There is currently no safety net for the remaining operations in Northern Ireland.
Sir Michael Ryan warned that the breakup of Belfast’s business would be “extremely damaging” to its long-term future, as well as to the wider reputation of the province in the aerospace sector.
In a letter he stated that the best solution was to maintain the site as one entity, because otherwise, vital economies of size and technological synergies would be lost.
Spirit’s Belfast footprint consists of six locations, some of which are located in the Catholic West of Belfast. This area is considered to be integral to the Northern Ireland Peace Process.
Short Brothers built the main factory in 1936, which is sandwiched between Belfast City Airport (airport) and the docks. It produced Second World War aircraft, including the Stirling Bomber and Sunderland Flying Boat.
Shorts started trading in 1897 and made hot-air balls before moving on to aircrafts after the Wright Brothers first flight.
In 1909, the company produced six planes in Sheppey. It was the first aircraft manufacturer in the world.
In 1989, it was sold to Bombardier Canada and in 2020 to Spirit.
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