Airbus’s acquisition of work packages from Spirit AeroSystems has slipped to the fourth quarter, a delay the airframer attributes to regulatory approvals.

But Airbus says the acquisition process is “making good progress”, adding: “All parties are putting the necessary efforts into the closing process.”

The acquisition has been necessitated by Boeing’s plan to take over Spirit AeroSystems, which is responsible for several packages on key Airbus programmes.

These include the centre fuselage for the A350 and the wings for the A220.

Speaking during a half-year briefing on 30 July, Airbus chief financial officer Thomas Toepfer indicated that the outstanding regulatory issues relate mainly to the Boeing transaction, on which the Airbus deal is contingent.

The regulatory matters are “not so much on our side”, he adds.

Airbus’s first-half financial figures show negative net adjustments in consolidated earnings of €587 million including €57 million related to “stabilisation costs” of the Spirit work packages.

Its full-year guidance for 2025 – including adjusted earnings of around €7 billion and free cash flow, before customer financing, of €4.5 billion – covers the impact of integrating certain work packages from Spirit, based on a fourth-quarter closing.

Airbus states that the anticipated impact of the work-package integration “remains in line with previous estimates”.