Following up on yesterday evening’s speculation…
Boeing announced at 7:00 AM today (December 22) that it has acquired Alenia’s 50% share in Global Aeronautica, a deal that has been widely rumored to be in the works for months now. Global Aeronautica, which began its life as a 50-50 joint venture between Vought and Alenia, will now be incorporated into Boeing Charleston.
According to several program sources, the deal between Boeing and Alenia was finalized and signed Monday. Later that same day, Boeing set up a stage on the northeastern side of Global Aeronautica that program sources said was larger and more elaborate than that available for watching 787 first flight the week before.
A notification went out later in the afternoon for an all hands meeting early this morning that included third and first shift staff. Second shift is to have a similar meeting starting at 4 PM today. Flightglobal.com broke the story at 6:54 this morning, followed minutes later by the official announcement.
Today’s deal is the fourth phase in Boeing’s gradual takeover of the North Charleston site. Boeing first acquired Vought’s share of GA in March 2008, followed by Vought’s aft fuselage fabrication and integration operations in July 2009 and announced in October that North Charleston would be the home of the second 787 final assembly line.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.