Airbus will secure the long-term future of almost 3,000 UK aerospace jobs after it secured a long-awaited carve-out deal from Boeing’s takeover of Spirit AeroSystems, a move that ends months of uncertainty for workers in Belfast and Prestwick.
According to sources, the world’s largest aircraft maker will announce as early as Monday that it is hiring 1,550 people at Spirit’s Belfast operation and another 1,200 at the company’s factory in Prestwick, Scotland. It represents a major breakthrough in negotiations since Boeing agreed to a $4.7 billion takeover of Spirit last year.
The British plants, which produce wings, fuselage sections and key aircraft structural components for both Airbus and Boeing, were operating under short-term agreements while the companies worked to resolve a deal that kept production lines across suppliers.
For months, the fate of thousands of workers seemed to depend on whether Airbus and Boeing could agree on terms. The Belfast site, formerly Short Brothers – and one of the crown jewels of Britain’s aerospace history, posted a loss of $670 million in 2024, raising concerns about its future viability.
Under the emerging deal, Boeing will pay Airbus a significant dowry, expected to run into hundreds of millions, to offset ongoing losses at the Belfast site. Boeing is also expected to retain about 2,000 Spirit employees who are not moving to Airbus.
Airbus plans to fully take over the wing factory in Belfast while also locating with Boeing in another building producing A220 fuselages. Insiders believe planning work is already underway to expand the wing factory, which will boost the UK’s global reputation as a center of excellence in wing design and manufacturing.
Prestwick will also move under Airbus control and continue production of leading and trailing wing edges for the A320 and A350 programs.
After a series of high-profile safety failures, including the bursting of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max in January 2024 and the Max program’s previous fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, Boeing has decided to reacquire Spirit. Spirit, once part of Boeing before it was spun off in 2005, has been embroiled in supply chain fallout and quality issues with the Max line.
Airbus, in turn, took advantage of Boeing’s woes to reclaim its crown as the world’s largest commercial aircraft maker, even as it too has struggled with pressures, including a software bug last month that required urgent updates to all airline fleets.
Following the transfer of Spirit’s workforce, Airbus’ total UK civil aerospace and defense workforce will rise to around 14,000. The UK remains an important part of Airbus’ global manufacturing footprint, with the main wing programs based in North Wales and advanced design teams based in Bristol.
The announcement also represents a rare victory for Britain’s industrial base at a time when manufacturers are struggling with higher energy costs, rising payroll taxes and global competition for investment.
Boeing confirmed this week that it expects to complete the Spirit acquisition by the end of the year after receiving approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Airbus called the FTC ruling “a significant milestone” in securing Spirit’s capabilities, which are “essential to our commercial aircraft programs.”
A formal announcement from Airbus is expected early next week.
