Spirit Aerosystems

By Guy Norris, Sean Broderick
Progress on 787 quality problems is challenged by whistleblower claims of long-term fleet safety risks.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Sean Broderick
Boeing is working to validate recommendations for inspections on 787 forward pressure bulkheads to identify potential problems in the critical subassemblies.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

Aviation Week Network Staff
This week’s staff movements highlight changes at one of the world’s most distinctive airports, an ambitious British startup, and a growing U.S. airport.
Airports & Networks

By Michael Bruno
Tom Gentile succeeds Chairman, CEO and President Nick Stanage, “who worked closely with the board on his desire to retire at the end of the year,” Hexcel says.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Tony Osborne
A new Royal Air Force strategy lays out plans for the introduction of larger systems after having developed small, swarming platforms.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Sean Broderick, Michael Bruno, Steve Trimble, Irene Klotz, Guy Norris
Boeing’s new leadership in Commercial Airplanes and at the top are likely just the beginning of major changes at the manufacturing giant.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Sean Broderick, Michael Bruno
A revamped master supplier schedule is one sign the company may be serious about addressing years of problematic quality.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Michael Bruno
CFO Brian West told a Bank of America investor conference that Boeing would buy back Spirit using cash and debt; Boeing ended 2023 with almost $16 billion.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Sean Broderick
The company is working on changing long-established priorities that valued speed over quality.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Steve Trimble
Spirit AeroSystems will build and test a large, experimental wing to support high-speed aircraft applications under a new DARPA program.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Michael Bruno
General Electric is dead—long live GE Aerospace. Behold the newest pure-play aerospace and defense giant.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Joe Anselmo, Michael Bruno, Jens Flottau, Steve Trimble
Talks to acquire troubled aerostructures supplier Spirit Aerosystems hold big implications for Boeing—and Airbus. Our editors break it down.
Check 6

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Michael Bruno, Sean Broderick, Steve Trimble
Can a second marriage born of a shotgun wedding be successful? Boeing and Spirit talk merger.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Michael Bruno
Engineered parts provider Barnes Group has settled with an activist hedge fund and will change its board of directors.
Supply Chain

By Sean Broderick
The absence of documentation on a process critical to an in-service occurrence points to broad gaps in Boeing's quality oversight process.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Michael Bruno
Production of new MAXs was believed by Jefferies analysts to have fallen to mid-20s for January and below 20 in February.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Sean Broderick
The agency reviewed processes within Boeing and major supplier Spirit AeroSystems.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Steve Trimble
A Boeing acquisition of all or part of Spirit AeroSystems could be, if consummated, a surprise coup for the former’s defense business.
Supply Chain

By Michael Bruno
Financial analysts and industry observers respond to the news that Spirit AeroSystems is mulling some kind of sale, including to Boeing and Airbus.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Michael Bruno
In what is becoming a year of going back to basics, aerospace manufacturing workers have the microphone.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

New MRO facilities and joint ventures are highlights of Contracts and News Briefs this month.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Jens Flottau
Two of Germany’s large aerospace suppliers seek better access to the U.S. market and Boeing, with very different approaches.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Sean Broderick, Michael Bruno
New, more hands-on production surveillance is likely to emerge from Boeing’s supply chain and quality missteps.
Safety, Ops & Regulation