Spirit AeroSystems Q1 revenue up; recalls for all Wichita workers furloughed in 2020

First-quarter revenue for Spirit AeroSystems was up 30% from the same period last year, as the Wichita-based manufacturing giant ramped up production of Boeing 737 Max shipsets to 31 a month.

But officials struck a cautionary tone in a Wednesday earnings call, partially due to downward revisions to the production schedules of the 737 Max and Boeing 787 programs.

“Our recovery continues despite ongoing challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia/Ukraine conflict, supply chain disruptions and inflation,” CEO Tom Gentile said. “Our factories continue to meet deliveries to our customers, but we have seen downward revisions in schedule to some programs.”

Gentile said the company remains focused on positioning itself to benefit from the air traffic recovery that’s projected to accelerate in 2022, although the International Air Transport Association doesn’t expect a full recovery to pre-COVID flight rates until 2024.

Officials said Spirit has now issued recalls for all 5,000 of the Wichita workers who were furloughed in 2020.

The company delivered a total of 321 shipsets in Q1, compared to 262 during the first four months of 2021. 737 Max deliveries rose from 29 shipsets to 60 shipsets, but 787 deliveries dropped off from 15 in 2021 to three so far this year.

Overall, Spirit’s commercial segment revenue increased 35% year-over-year in the first quarter to $938.4 million. Revenue for the defense and space segment ticked up 3% to $158.5 million, and aftermarket segment revenue swelled 52% from 2021 to $77.8 million.

Spirit’s long-term goal is to deliver 40% of company revenue from commercial aerospace sales, 40% from defense and space sales and 20% from aftermarket sales.

This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 12:35 PM.