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Unions have said they have “serious concerns” over the jobs of thousands of workers at a historic aerospace factory in Belfast, after they were left out of a takeover by Airbus.
Airbus, the world’s biggest planemaker, said on Monday it had agreed to buy parts of Spirit AeroSystems, including wing and fuselage production for the A220 small passenger jet in Belfast, that employ 1,500 workers. Even then, the fuselage production could still be sold on to another company if Spirit finds a buyer before the Airbus deal is completed.
The deal also leaves uncertainty over the fate of a further 2,000 employees in Belfast who produce parts for companies other than Airbus. Those workers make parts for a range of customers, including Bombardier, Honda Aircraft and Rolls-Royce, from one of the world’s most historic aerospace operations.
Ownership of the Belfast site has been passed from the government to Bombardier and then to Spirit over the course of decades. Yet it still trades under the name of Short Brothers, a company that is the world’s oldest aircraft manufacturer. That company now faces being carved up, which could leave Northern Ireland’s biggest manufacturing employer at risk of job losses.
The carve-up of the factory stems from the $4.7bn (£3.5bn) deal last year by US manufacturer Boeing to take over Spirit in an effort to gain more control of its supply chain after a series of safety crises.
There was little prospect of Boeing continuing to supply parts for Airbus, its bitter rival. Airbus will also take control of work for its planes at Kinston in North Carolina, Wichita in Kansas, Saint-Nazaire in France, Casablanca in Morocco and Prestwick in Scotland. Spirit will pay Airbus $439m for it to take on the various sites before the completion of the Boeing takeover.
However, it is unclear whether Boeing will be content to act as a supplier to other businesses from the Belfast factory. The plant is in a difficult financial situation. It reported a loss of $338m in 2023, and has made cumulative losses of more than $1.2bn since its last profit in 2016.
Unite and GMB, two unions representing workers at the plant, called for the Belfast site to be sold to a single buyer. Unite said the UK government should intervene.
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said: “The government has huge leverage over the key players – billions in contracts and government grants go to these aircraft manufacturers. It cannot drop the ball and allow the collapse of Northern Ireland’s strategic and world-class aerospace sector. Government needs to deliver for Northern Ireland.”
The GMB union said it had “serious concerns over the future” of the non-Airbus work at Belfast.
Alan Perry, a senior organiser for GMB, said the Belfast operation should remain as “one identity”.
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“GMB has engaged with Stormont ministers who agree a carve-up does not benefit the company or the wider Northern Ireland economy,” he said. “This company, which has been here for more than 150 years, we will fight tooth and nail to protect and maintain jobs for future generations.”
Airbus said the deal would “maintain stability across the supply chain” for its planes.
“These activities are critical to Airbus’s production ramp-up and will be stabilised within the Airbus operating system,” a spokesperson said. “Non-Airbus operations in Belfast will transfer to Boeing or may be divested to a third party by Spirit prior to closing.”
At Prestwick, the vast majority of the 1,200 employees will transfer to Airbus. However, Airbus also equivocated over the longer-term ownership of the site, which makes the edges of wings. Airbus said it will “assess its long-term strategy for the site as part of ongoing industrial planning”.
