Aerostructures producer Spirit AeroSystems lost $477 million in the third quarter of 2024 due largely to significant charges taken by the company against several of its financially troubled aircraft programmes.
Wichita-based Spirit disclosed the loss on 23 October, several days after saying it will soon start furloughing workers in response to an ongoing strike by machinists at Boeing, its largest customer.
Spirit chief executive Pat Shanahan says the company remains on track with a plan to be acquired by Boeing before year-end.
That deal will see Boeing take back production of 737 fuselages and major components for its other jets, after divesting the operation in 2005.
Spirit generated third-quarter revenue of $1.5 billion, up 2% year on year. Its $477 million loss was more than double the figure in the same quarter of 2023.
Spirit attributes the losses to a string of massive charges against various aircraft programmes.
It logged forward losses of $109 million against its 787 work and $64 million against the Airbus A220 programme, the result of “production performance as well as labour and supply chain cost growth”.
Due to “higher production costs”, Spirit also took negative charges of $24 million against its 737 work and $16 million against its 777 programme, and it logged $70 million in “excess capacity costs”.
In response to the Boeing machinists’ strike, Spirit on 28 October plans to “implement a 21-day furlough for approximately 700 employees working on the 767 and 777 programmes” – a move driven by a lack of storage space for the structures.
“These furloughs are in combination with a series of other cost savings measures, including a hiring freeze and travel and overtime restrictions,” it adds.
