Boeing in talks to buy Spirit AeroSystems

DALLAS

Boeing has said that it is in preliminary talks to buy Spirit AeroSystems, which builds fuselages for Boeing 737 Max jetliners, including the one that suffered a door-panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

Boeing used to own Spirit, and it said that bringing the supplier back into the Boeing fold would improve plane quality and safety, which has come under increasing scrutiny by regulators, Congress and airlines.

Buying Spirit back would reverse a longtime Boeing strategy of outsourcing key work on its passenger planes.

That approach has been criticized as problems at Spirit have disrupted production and delivery of popular Boeing jetliners including 737s and 787s.

Concerns about quality came to a head after the Jan. 5 blowout of a panel on an Alaska 737 Max 9 at 16,000 feet over Oregon.

Days after the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration announced increased oversight of Boeing and Spirit.

Last week, the FAA gave Boeing 90 days to submit a plan to improve quality and address safety concerns raised by a panel of experts who spent a year studying the company.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun has long defended the outsourcing strategy, but his tone changed after the blowout.

On Jan. 31, as Boeing reported a fourth-quarter loss, Calhoun said that outsourcing probably went too far.

A deal would give Boeing more control over its production chain, but fixing Spirit would present Boeing with new challenges while regulators are pressuring the company to improve its own work. And it could add to Boeing’s debt load, already at $52 billion.