Partnership With Spirit AeroSystems Reported In German News

A German newspaper reported Sunday that European planemaker Airbus plans to sell four of its European factories to US group Spirit AeroSystems Holdings this week.

Citing the online edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Reuters reports Airbus chief Tom Enders said he believed it was possible the company could decide by next Friday to sell three plants in Germany and one in Britain to Spirit.

The Airbus factories in question were at Varel, Nordenham and Augsburg in Germany and Filton in Britain, The German paper attributes its contacts only as "industry sector sources."

Enders is said to have favored Spirit because of its expertise in carbon fiber technology, an important factor in the construction of future models of jets. He reportedly did not want to sell the German plant in Laupheim as part of the deal with Spirit, as the components produced there do not involve carbon fiber.

Airbus is struggling to recover from costly delays to its A380 superjumbo jet, and the downturn of the US dollar to the Euro as reported previously by ANN. The resulting economic strife prompted parent-company EADS to push a strict restructuring program dubbed Power8, calling for the sale or partnering of several Airbus factories and the loss of 10,000 jobs.

Now a major supplier to both Airbus and its American rival, Spirit acquired the wing-making unit of former EADS-partner BAE Systems in 2006, to gain supply agreements with Toulouse, France-based Airbus.

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.spiritaero.com