Boeing Co. said Friday it has agreed to buy Vought Aircraft Industries’ stake in Global Aeronautica LLC, the North Charleston plant that joins fuselage sections for Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner.
Once the deal closes, Global Aeronautica will become a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Alenia North America, a subsidiary of Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica, Boeing said. Terms were not disclosed. Closing awaits regulatory approval, and Boeing said the purchase will not affect its financial guidance.
Global Aeronautica was established in December 2004 as a joint venture of Vought and Alenia North America, Boeing said. The plant employs more than 300 people who join and integrate 787 fuselage sections from Vought, Alenia and other partners, install and test the systems inside them and apply primer, according to Boeing.
The joined sections are flown to Boeing’s final assembly plant in Everett, Wash., aboard the Dreamlifter, a modified 747 cargo jet, the company has said.
Vought will keep building the 787’s two rear fuselage sections in its 342,000-square-foot building next door, where it employs about 300 workers, Boeing said. Alenia builds the two center fuselage sections at its own plants and delivers them to Global Aeronautica.
“As a partner in the Global Aeronautica joint venture, Boeing will work with Alenia to apply proven lean manufacturing expertise to continue improving the efficiency and productivity of GA’s operations, while Vought will focus on its primary business of delivering quality aft fuselage structures for the 787,” said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of the 787 program.
Shanahan said all three companies “believe these changes will enable the 787 team to continue to overcome supply-chain challenges of the program.”
Elmer Doty, Vought’s president and CEO, said the sale would not change the work next door. “Selling our interest has no impact on our adjacent facility, where the Vought 787 team remains focused on manufacturing composite fuselage sections for this incredible airplane,” he said.
Vought’s North Charleston plant has its own labor talks underway. The International Association of Machinists was recently certified to represent about 200 production and maintenance employees there, and negotiations for a first contract began Jan. 24, Vought said in its annual report filed March 18.
Boeing is completing work on the first 787 in Everett, where three other Dreamliners are in production, the company said.
