Make That Spirit Aerosystems

The company once Boeing Commercial Aircraft, then Mid-Western Aircraft, is calling itself something else again. Onex's plants in Wichita, KS; Tulsa, OK; and McAlester, OK are now known as Spirit Aerosystems.

"I believe the spark of the divine is in all of us," CEO Jeff Turner told employees at a company meeting in Wichita Tuesday. Teams with "spirit" are winning teams, he said.

Perhaps it's indicative of a willingness on all parties to start over after the bitter acrimony that crept into negotiations between Canadian-based Onex, Spirit's parent company. Indeed, that was the approach SPEEA's director for the Midwest, Bob Brewer, chose to take.

"It's about teamwork; it's about team spirit," Brewer said, quoted by the Wichita Eagle. "That's the direction everybody's heading right now. I think it's going to work well."

"We have what it takes to succeed," Turner said. He was also quoted by the Eagle. "We are adventurous; we are dynamic; we are full of vitality, and we have the teamwork that's required to grow and to prosper."

FMI: www.onex.com