Spirit AeroSystems is to invest in its Belfast factory and hire more staff as it ramps up production for the Airbus A220.
However, the company said it was still in dispute with
Airbus over how much it should be paid for A220 work.
The United States firm is one of Northern Ireland's largest
and most important manufacturing businesses with more than 3,000 employees.
Spirit is also the subject of a wider negotiation which
could see Airbus buy its entire Belfast operation.
It makes the wings and other parts for the A220 airliner.
'Significant investment'
Airbus wants to step up the production rate of the A220 by
50% in 2024, with another increase in 2025.
Spirit’s chief financial officer, Mark Suchinski, said that
would require significant investment in equipment and machinery at the Belfast
operation.
"That capital expenditure has to start to take place in
the back half of this year and into 2025 so we can meet those production rate
ramps," he told industry analysts.
He said the company was hiring and training people to meet
the higher production rates, adding there was "further hiring that will
need to be done" into 2025 and 2026.
Mr. Suchinski was speaking as the company announced a $167m
(£133.5m) first quarter loss on its A220 work.
That was blamed primarily on the failure to reach agreement
with Airbus on a revised financial deal for that work which also meant the firm
had to reverse previous assumptions about what it would be paid.
'Impasse'
Spirit chief executive Pat Shanahan said the Airbus talks
were at an "impasse" but he remained confident a deal would be
reached.
"Almost to a fault we have tried to find solutions to
this situation. Our commitment has been to the integrity of supply," he
said.
He added that Spirit required a deal which meant it could be
a financially strong business.
"Financial risk ultimately manifests itself as
operational risk. The system is elastic until it’s not," he added.
Spirit has been in Northern Ireland since 2019 when it
bought Bombardier's operations, ending a long period of uncertainty for the
workforce.
However, the ownership of the Belfast operation is now in
question again because of problems in Spirit's US business.
Spirit began life as a spin-off from Boeing in 2005 and
remains a key Boeing supplier, particularly for the Boeing 737.
Some of its work for the company has suffered from delays
and quality issues, which has exacerbated problems at Boeing.
Boeing wants to buy Spirit as a way to deal with its
production problems and any deal is likely to involve spinning off the parts of
the Spirit business which supply Airbus.