Spirit AeroSystems’ (Spirit) third quarter of 2021 revenue was US$980.0 million, up 22% from the same period of 2020, primarily due to higher production deliveries on the Boeing 737 and increased revenue from the recently acquired A220 wing and Bombardier programmes. These increases were partially offset by the lower wide-body production rates due to reduced international air traffic resulting from the impact of COVID-19. Deliveries increased to 250 shipsets during the third quarter of 2021 compared to 206 shipsets in the same period of 2020, including Boeing 737 deliveries of 47 shipsets compared to 15 shipsets in the same period of the prior year.
Spirit’s backlog at the end of the third quarter of 2021 was approximately US$33 billion, with work packages on all commercial platforms in the Boeing and Airbus backlog.
Operating loss for the third quarter of 2021 was US$156.6 million, as compared to an operating loss of US$176.9 million in the same period of 2020. The decreased loss was primarily driven by lower forward loss charges and lower excess capacity costs in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter of 2020.
Third-quarter 2021 earnings included US$57.1 million of excess capacity costs and net forward loss charges of US$70.4 million, primarily driven by schedule changes on the Airbus A350 programme and reduced production demand on the Boeing 787 programme. In comparison, during the third quarter of 2020, Spirit recorded excess capacity costs of US$72.6 million and US$128.4 million of net forward loss charges. Additionally, during the third quarter of 2020, Spirit recognised restructuring expenses of US$19.5 million for cost-alignment and headcount reductions (£1.00 = US$1.37 at time of publication).
