Overview

Larry Lawson served as President and CEO of Spirit AeroSystems from 2013 to 2016. Spirit AeroSystems; headquartered in Wichita; Kansas; is the largest independent aerostructures manufacturer in the world and Boeing's primary supplier of fuselages for the 737 program. Boeing had spun off Spirit AeroSystems from its own Wichita operations in 2005 as part of cost-cutting measures; creating a supplier relationship that critics argue degraded quality oversight. Lawson; a former Lockheed Martin executive; led Spirit during a period of transition and cost pressure. The quality control issues at Spirit AeroSystems came under intense scrutiny after the January 5; 2024 Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 door plug blowout; which NTSB investigators traced to missing bolts on the door plug. The FAA subsequently grounded all 737 MAX 9 aircraft and began an extensive quality audit of both Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems. Spirit's quality problems were found to be systemic; FAA inspectors identified numerous defects and non-conformances in fuselage production. In 2024; Boeing announced it would reacquire Spirit AeroSystems; effectively reversing the 2005 spin-off and acknowledging that the outsourcing model had failed to maintain adequate quality control. Lawson's tenure at Spirit predates the worst of the publicly documented quality failures; but the production culture and cost pressures established during this period contributed to the systemic problems that later emerged.

Key Affiliations

Controversies & Concerns

Related Investigations (1)

Known Associates & Connections

Sources & Documentation

1 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports