Adient and Boeing in aircraft seat jv

Detroit, Michigan – Adient and Boeing have formed Adient Aerospace, a joint venture to make aircraft seating.

The jv will produce seats for new aeroplanes and as retrofit options to existing planes made by Boeing and other manufacturers.

The aircraft seat market is slated to grow from $4.5bn in 2017 to around $6bn in 2026, according to industry analysts, but is suffering from a lack of production capacity, according to the firms.

In a release Adient said that the move ‘addresses the need for more capacity in the seating category, superior quality and reliable on-time performance.’

Adient CEO Bruce McDonald said: ‘Adient has a strong set of transferable competences that will offer a unique opportunity to create value for our company and Boeing.’

Kevin Schemm, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CFO said: ‘Seats have been a persistent challenge for our customer, the industry and Boeing. We are taking action to address the constraints in the market [the aim is] to provide a superior seating product for airlines and passengers.’

The joint venture’s headquarters, technology centre and initial production plant will be based at Kaiserslautern, Germany; customer services in Seattle, Washington state.

Adient has a 50.01% share of the jv and expects to record its financial performance in its consolidated financial statements. Both Adient and Boeing will sit on the board of Adient Aerospace.