Widebody woes weighs on Spirit despite single-aisle improvements

Widebody programme troubles pushed Wichita airframe manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems to a $52.8m loss in Q4 2022. But that loss came on Q1 revenue that surged 30% year on year, to $1.2b, due largely to a healthier narrowbody aircraft segment, Spirit reported on 4 May. In addtion, the negative earnings figure is still an improvement on the same period of 2021 when Spirit lost $172m. “Our recovery continues despite ongoing challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia/Ukraine conflict, supply chain disruptions and inflation,” says Spirit CE Tom Gentile. “Our factories continue to meet deliveries to our customers, but we have seen downward revisions in schedule to some programmes.” Spirit attributes its improved Q1 revenue “to higher production deliveries on the Boeing 737, Airbus A220 and Airbus A320 programmes, as well as increased aftermarket revenue”. “On the 737 Max, our largest programme, we have recently increased production to 31 shipsets per month and currently expect to hold at that rate for the remainder of the year,” says Gentile. That aligns with Boeing’s goal of producing 31 737s monthly this year. But a bevy of costs and charges offset the improving narrowbody segment: Spirit took a $23.8m forward loss due to “further production rate decreases and costs of rework on the Boeing 787 programme, as well as increased costs of quality, and production rate decreases, on the Airbus A350 programme”, it says. Other charges included $26.2m due to “increased estimates for supply chain, raw material and other costs related to the Boeing 737”.<br/>