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U.K. antitrust officials said they wouldn’t open an in-depth probe into Boeing’s BA 0.16%increase; green up pointing triangle deal to acquire fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems SPR 0.37%increase; green up pointing triangle Holdings, effectively clearing the transaction weeks after they launched the first phase of an investigation.
The Competition and Markets Authority started looking at the deal in June to determine whether it could stifle competition in the U.K. Officials have now concluded that isn’t the case and said the transaction didn’t warrant a more in-depth probe.
Boeing agreed to acquire Spirit in July last year in a roughly $4.7 billion deal that included Boeing-related commercial operations as well as commercial, defense and aftermarket operations.
Spirit, which split from Boeing about two decades ago, has been at the center of quality issues affecting 737 MAX jets. Spirit’s factory in Wichita, Kan., made the fuselage involved in last year’s Alaska Airlines door-plug blowout.
Boeing executives have said they believe taking control of Spirit’s operations would improve the safety and quality of its manufacturing.
Clearance from the CMA brings the companies closer to finalizing the transaction. If U.K. antitrust officials had concluded the deal threatened competition, they could have blocked it altogether or imposed so-called remedies on Boeing, meaning the jet maker could have been forced to sell certain assets or make other concessions to earn antitrust approval.
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Boeing intends to sell as many as eighteen 787 Dreamliner jets to Gulf Air. Boeing plans to sell up to 18 of its 787 Dreamliner jets to Gulf Air.
The jet maker said Thursday it has agreed to sell 12 of the jets, with options for six more.
The deal is part of Gulf Air’s aim to further expand its international network across markets in Asia, Europe and the U.S., the Bahrain-based airline said.
Once finalized, the deal will bring Gulf Air’s order book to 14 of the wide-body jets.
The airline currently has 10 of the airplanes in service, which have been key for long-haul flights, it said.
The companies didn’t disclose the terms or price of the deal.
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The parent company of British Airways said it had agreed to buy 32 Boeing 787-10s with General Electric engines, confirming purchases touted alongside the U.S.-U.K. trade deal on Thursday by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The deals have a combined sticker price of $12.7 billion but International Consolidated Airlines said it had negotiated a substantial discount, as is standard for large aircraft deals.
The company also said it ordered 21 Airbus A330neo jets valued at $7.9 billion before the customary discounts.
Plus, it converted previously agreed options for 18 other Airbus and Boeing widebody jets.
IAG Chief Executive Luis Gallego said the aircraft deals had been in the works “for a long time,” preceding trade talks between the U.S. and U.K. Still, he welcomed Thursday’s agreement, noting aviation’s decades long status as tariff-exempt. “We don’t need tariffs,” he said.
News of the jet orders came as IAG reported a swing back to profit in the first quarter helped by higher ticket prices and lower fuel costs. But Gallego did say the airline group had seen some softness in demand for economy seats from U.S. consumers. That was contrary to strong demand in Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East.
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Boeing has overhauled two internal systems for employees to flag potential safety issues and manufacturing problems. Boeing is out to prove it can police itself.
The jet maker said it has overhauled two flawed-but-critical internal systems in which employees flag potential safety issues and manufacturing problems.
The changes are part of Boeing’s response to last year’s near-catastrophic fuselage panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight. The company has said it aims to change a culture that employees, regulators and Boeing’s own executives say has historically discouraged employees from flagging problems.
“We’re trying to add additional guardrails,” said Boeing safety chief Don Ruhmann, speaking to reporters about the changes.
Boeing needs to convince Federal Aviation Administration officials that it is capable of turning out glitch-free airplanes. The company has been under close watch by federal regulators ever since a pair of fatal crashes of its 737 MAX planes in 2018 and 2019. After the Alaska Airlines incident, the FAA stepped up supervision of the company’s Renton, Wash., plant and installed a production cap on 737 MAX planes.
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