The European Commission has approved Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems, subject to significant divestments designed to safeguard competition in the global market for aerostructures and large commercial aircraft.
The Commission’s investigation found that the merger, as initially proposed, could have reduced competition and given Boeing the ability and incentive to harm Airbus, a key Spirit customer, by limiting supply or gaining access to sensitive commercial information.
Remedies to Secure Approval
To resolve these concerns, Boeing committed to:
Divest all Spirit operations supplying Airbus, including staff and assets, directly to Airbus;
Sell Spirit’s Malaysian site, which also supplies Airbus, to Composites Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM).
These divestments will allow Airbus to integrate Spirit’s Airbus-related activities into its own operations and secure its supply chain, while CTRM will emerge as a new competitive supplier in the aerostructures market.
The Commission approved both Airbus and CTRM as suitable, independent buyers and confirmed that their acquisition of the divested units creates no new competition risks. An independent trustee will monitor implementation of the commitments.
Background
- Boeing (US) – designs and manufactures commercial aircraft and defence systems.
- Spirit AeroSystems (US) – major supplier of aerostructures for Boeing, Airbus, and others.
- Airbus (Netherlands/France) – leading global aircraft manufacturer.
- CTRM (Malaysia) – aerospace composites supplier, part of DRB-HICOM.
The merger was notified on 26 August 2025 and cleared after an extended Phase I review under the EU Merger Regulation (case M.11578).