Spirit AeroSystems, which has had a partnership with Wichita State and has offered learning opportunities for students since 2018, recently announced that Boeing had purchased the aerosystem company for $8.3 billion.  

Since the transaction, Associate Vice President of Strategic Communications and Marketing for National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) Tracee Friess said in an email exchange to The Sunflower that Spirit and NIAR don’t have any more information than the general public.

“All of our current programs with Spirit are conducting business as usual and will continue until further notice,” Friess said. “There has been no change in applied learning positions related to Spirit programs and we don’t anticipate one.” 

Friess said that NIAR sees this as an opportunity to increase research partnerships and applied learning with Boeing in the near future. 

Spirit AeroSystems currently has a location on campus that offers three areas of strategic focus including joint strategic research projects, applied learning opportunities for students and improved workforce training services for the aerospace industry. 

In a phone interview with The Sunflower, Friess said that with the information NIAR has now, the employees at the WSU Spirit facility will remain at that location until more information comes through. 

“The way that (the partnership with WSU and Spirit) really will change or advance over the next, you know, six months to a year, is to be determined on which programs they want to continue and which programs they want to transition,” Friess said. “We do anticipate a relationship with Boeing going forward, we just don’t know how that will look yet.”

Boeing has come under fire in the past week after the company pleaded guilty to fraud for two crashes involving their 737 Max aircraft, killing 346 people in total. 

The company also landed themselves in hot water on Monday after a tire fell off one of their 757-200 aircrafts during take off on United Airlines flight 1001 from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). 

This is a developing story and more details about the transaction and how it will affect Wichita State will be updated as more information comes out.