"Strong market demand for our products continues as large commercial aircraft deliveries increased 7% and deliveries across all programmes increased 12% over the third quarter of 2011, says Spirit AeroSystems President and CEO Jeff Turner. "As demonstrated by the third quarter results, our core programmes are performing well and we are financially healthy."
"While new airplane programmes are always challenging, I am extremely disappointed in our management of the complexity on these programmes," he continues. "We have struggled with the development and early production on certain programmes as highlighted by the charges in the quarter. However, it is important to note that as these programmes are now transitioning to full rate production and experiencing rate increases we are applying our lessons learned and focusing on driving operational performance and cost improvement into these programmes."
"Our backlog of approximately $34 billion reflects the strong global demand for commercial aircraft and positions us well to realise the long-term value and generate cash," he concludes.
Spirit has updated its revenue guidance for the full-year 2012 which is now expected to be $5.2-5.3 billion. This is based on Boeing's 2012 delivery guidance of approximately 585-600 aircraft; expected B787 ship set deliveries; expected Airbus deliveries in 2012 of approximately 580 aircraft; internal Spirit forecasts for other customer production activities; expected non-production revenues; and foreign exchange rates consistent with those in the third quarter of 2012.
