Bombardier's Belfast factory sold to Spirit in GBP850m deal

Bombardier has agreed to sell its historic wing-making factory in Belfast to the US aerospace manufacturer Spirit Aerosystems as part of a $1.1b deal that ends months of uncertainty over the jobs of 3,500 highly skilled workers. The Canadian aerospace company put the historic Short Brothers plant up for sale in May after a difficult period for the factory, where wings are made for Airbus’s A220 aircraft and which supplies parts for Airbus’s A320neo and Bombardier business and regional jets. Spirit, which is based in Wichita, Kansas, will pay Bombardier $500m in cash, and will take on $300m in pension liabilities and $290m in government grant repayment obligations. A spokeswoman for Bombardier said there were no workforce adjustments included in the deal. About 4,000 employees will transfer to Spirit, including those at smaller operations in the US and Morocco which are also part of the deal. Spirit said it expected to make $60m from cutting costs and other cooperation benefits. Short Brothers, which traces its history back to 1908, is a key provider of well-paid jobs in Belfast and nearby towns, but its recent struggles resulted in several rounds of redundancies, including 500 jobs in November 2018. The company, which also makes other plane parts, reported a loss of $33.8m in 2017 but recovered to make an operating profit of $4.9m in 2018.<br/>