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Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF) may consider buying some Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:SPR) assets if Boeing (NYSE:BA) were to buy the aircraft parts supplier, according to the French airplane maker’s chief financial officer.
The comments after Boeing (BA) and Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF) earlier this month confirmed that they were in preliminary acquisition talks, following several media reports about a possible deal earlier in the day.
Spirit (SPR) has held exploratory talks with Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF) about selling its Belfast, Northern Ireland plant. Boeing (BA) is reportedly not keen on owning Spirit’s Airbus business, which includes the factory.
“In light of the situation today where Boeing has potentially the interest to take over Spirit, we could also imagine that some of the work packages could find their way to Airbus and we take them over, but that quite frankly is a discussion that’s in the very very early stages and it’s way too early to comment on that,” Spirit (SPR) CFO Thomas Toepfer told CNBC in an interview on Friday.
Spirit (SPR) manufactures the wings for the Airbus A220 aircraft and also a section for the A350 model, Toepfer explained.
Boeing (BA) is exploring ways to minimize or cut Spirit AeroSystems’ (SPR) links to Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF) ahead of a potential acquisition of the supplier, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Boeing (BA) is also likely preparing for European regulators potentially objecting to Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF) depending on its rival’s critical components, some of which use proprietary design and technology.
