Boeing bought back its supplier – and finds new billion-dollar problems

Boeing is once again operating at a loss. In the first half of 2026, the aircraft manufacturer reported a pre-tax loss of $339 million. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal.

But the real financial picture is tougher than the income statement suggests.

It is above all Boeing's purchase of supplier Spirit AeroSystems that raises questions. Boeing completed the deal in December 2025 and paid around $8.4 billion for the company, which for many years had been a key supplier of aircraft structures to Boeing.

Following the acquisition, Boeing has identified additional financial commitments linked to Spirit. These include long-term customer contracts with terms that are significantly worse than those a market participant would normally accept.

Contracts worth $1.5 billion

At the half-year point, Boeing valued these so-called “off-market customer contracts” at around $1.5 billion. This represents an increase of approximately $455 million since the start of the year.

In practice, the contracts mean that Spirit – and now Boeing – have commitments that may be significantly less favourable financially than comparable agreements on the market. 

However, the increased cost does not appear as a corresponding loss in Boeing's income statement.

As Boeing is still within the one-year period for adjusting the purchase price allocation, the change can instead be handled through an adjustment to goodwill on the balance sheet.

Goodwill exceeds equity

When Boeing first accounted for the Spirit deal at the end of 2025, goodwill amounted to around $10 billion. By the end of June, it had increased to approximately $10.3 billion.

That is more than Boeing's entire equity. At the same time, the difference between the value of Spirit's identifiable assets and liabilities had increased to around $1.9 billion on the negative side. 

This does not mean that Boeing has paid out a further $455 million in cash. It concerns the accounting treatment of the values and obligations that came with the acquisition.

Bought back the business

Spirit AeroSystems was created in 2005 when Boeing spun off its Wichita operations as part of a strategy to reduce costs and outsource more production to subcontractors.

Spirit subsequently became one of Boeing's most important suppliers, particularly of fuselages for the 737 programme.

After several years of production problems, quality shortcomings and financial difficulties, Boeing chose to go in the opposite direction: it would once again take greater control of production.

Boeing announced the deal in 2024. The total transaction value was then approximately $8.3 billion, including Spirit's net debt. The deal was completed in December 2025.

In practice, it was therefore a return to a model Boeing had previously abandoned.

Spirit became part of the 737 problem

The decision to bring production back in-house is also linked to Boeing's extensive quality problems.

Spirit manufactured, among other things, the fuselage for the Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines, on which a door plug detached during flight in January 2024.

The incident became another symbol of the problems in Boeing's production and quality control, and increased pressure on the aircraft manufacturer to gain better control of its supply chain.

At the same time, Spirit was in a very poor financial state. Even before the acquisition, Boeing had needed to support the supplier financially to keep production running.

Boeing: integration is going well

A company spokesperson says that the integration of Spirit’s former commercial operations is progressing well and is important for strengthening production, quality and capacity ahead of future production increases.

If Boeing can gain better control over production through Spirit, reduce quality problems and increase the delivery rate, the deal could, in the longer term, help solve some of the aircraft manufacturer’s biggest problems.

However, the figures also show that Boeing has acquired a considerably heavier financial burden in the process.

And when the period for adjusting the acquisition accounting expires, new negative surprises will become harder to hide on the balance sheet. After that, further deterioration risks hitting earnings directly.