Spirit Aero to receive up to $350m in funding from Boeing

Spirit AeroSystems said Tuesday that planemaker Boeing will pay up to $350m in advance payments to the firm, providing the struggling supplier a lifeline as it continues to burn cash after four consecutive years of losses. Reuters had reported last week that Spirit and Boeing were close to reaching a funding agreement as Spirit Aero is juggling financial and production challenges, having issued a "going concern" warning last week. The fuselage supplier expects to burn around $450m to $500m over the last three months of 2024 and first half of 2025, according to filings. "This agreement helps improve our liquidity. We continue to pursue a range of options to address our financial and spacing storage constraints and are working with our customers on these matters," Spirit spokesperson Joe Buccino said. Spirit said the advanced payments are to produce Boeing products at the rates required by the planemaker, and "to address Spirit's high levels of inventory and lower operational cash flows, decrease in expected deliveries to Boeing and higher factory costs to maintain rate readiness, and lingering effects brought on by the recent strike by Boeing employees." Boeing said it continues "to work closely with our valued supplier to stabilize our production system and help us deliver for our customers."<br/>