The planned joint venture between aircraft manufacturers Boeing (Chicago, Illinois / USA; www.boeing.com) and Embraer (São José dos Campos / Brazil; www.embraer.com) is off the table – Boeing has announced that the agreement concluded in 2018 has been terminated. Boeing had acquired a majority stake in Embraer’s commercial aircraft business. The original goal was to have a partnership in commercial aircrafts and develop new markets for the military transport aircraft “KC-390 Millennium” as well as for regional passenger airplanes. At the time, demand for the latter was expected to be growing – the planes were to provide shuttle services between smaller airports and intercontinental hubs and fly short distance routes. As a consequence, an increasing demand for plastic components was also expected, especially for carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CRPs).

However, the termination of the JV does not address the current slump in the aviation industry caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Boeing rather stated that it had exercised its right to terminate the contract on 24 April after Embraer had failed to fulfil contractual obligations. Marc Allen, president of Embraer Partnership & Group Operations, expressed his deep disappointment in the communication. He nevertheless conceded that a point had been reached where continued negotiations would not solve the outstanding issues. The termination does not affect the collaboration Boeing and Embraer have on sales of the KC-390 Millennium, which was agreed in 2012 and extended in 2016. The aircraft is being delivered to the Brazilian and Portuguese air forces since 2019.

Boeing suppliers Hexcel (Stamford, Connecticut / USA; www.hexcel.com) and Woodward (Fort Collins, Colorado / USA; www.woodward.com) earlier this month called off a planned merger as a result of the negative impacts on the aerospace industry from the Covid-19 pandemic (see Plasteurope.com of 17.04.2020).

Boeing is also in the process of reorganisation and leadership changes effective 1 May 2020. The US company said these are to prepare for the “post-pandemic industry footprint” as well as to drive cross-company integration, align enterprise services to current business conditions and streamline senior leadership roles. The airline giant will also create the new group, Enterprise Operations, Finance & Strategy, which is to consolidate its manufacturing, supply chain and operations, finance, enterprise performance, strategy, enterprise services and administration.

Greg Smith, executive VP Enterprise Operations and CFO will lead the new group operating on “consistent lean principles” across Boeing. The plan is to restore the company’s manufacturing and supply chains as the aviation industry recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Boeing has been supporting the fight against the coronavirus in the US by flying in masks for healthcare workers from China. It recently transported 1.5m masks from Hong Kong to Greenville, South Carolina, on one of its “747-400” planes.