Canadian aviation manufacturer Bombardier is considering a bid for the Spirit AeroSystems plant in Belfast, Northern Ireland after it was left out of the OEM’s acquisition by Boeing.
The facility has only been a Spirit asset for four years after it was acquired from Bombardier in 2020. It maintained production of Bombardier fuselages along with its Airbus works.
CEO Éric Martel said the overriding focus of the Canadian company was ensuring the long-term maintenance of the site and its high-quality work. But depending on other bidders, the former owner could consider financial involvement.
“There’ll be potential buyers at some point. We could also consider to be one of them. We’ll see what the market says, but I think what is important to us will be that whoever the buyer is, we need to be comfortable with these guys to be there for the long run. If there’s nobody, we could again be considering that as an option,” he said during the company’s Q2 results call.
“Our priority right now is clearly to make sure that the existing contracts [for the Belfast work] will be upheld at the higher standard. And that’s why we have, on a regular basis, people in Belfast working on this priority to make sure that the material keeps flowing,” Martel said.
There is no current timeline for the potential bids for the Spirit site, although, with the Boeing deal (and Airbus agreement) expected to finalise in mid-2025, similar timing could be reasonably expected.
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