The European planemaker and the US company are at odds over pricing, but industry sources said a deal would be unlikely in the short term.

The two companies are in “preliminary discussions,” Spirit AeroSystems (SPR.N), which supplies fuselages, wings, and other components to Airbus (AIR.PA) and Boeing commercial jets, said Friday in a statement. The announcement came after a Wall Street Journal report that Airbus had explored buying Spirit’s Belfast plant, which makes wings for the A220, a new widebody jet Boeing has dropped.

Airbus would have to agree to a price and other terms for the acquisition, which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The two companies have been negotiating pricing for several years, pushing the other to reduce costs.

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Spirit is one of the world’s most prominent independent non-OEM commercial designers and manufacturers, providing fuselages, propulsion, and wing systems to Airbus, Boeing, and others. Its Wichita facility produces parts for Boeing’s 737 narrowbody jets, including the forward fuselage and the entire fuselage of the 737 MAX, as well as wing components, engine nacelles, and pylons. It also has facilities in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where it began making wings for the A220, and Casablanca, Morocco.

A potential deal between Airbus and Spirit is significant, as it could shift the balance of power between the two giants of global aviation manufacturing. It would also mark the first time in nearly 20 years that a company once owned by Boeing was under the control of a competitor.

The US company sold its stake in Spirit, based in Wichita, Kansas, to private equity investors in 2005. It has since become a multi-product, diverse supplier that makes parts for Airbus and other aerospace manufacturers and the defense industry.

Boeing’s decision to explore a possible buyback of Spirit comes 19 years after it divested the company in what was widely considered a strategic error. The sale was prompted by a drive to streamline the company and advance a strategy of outsourcing more plane-making capacity.

Bringing Spirit back in-house may solve some of the quality issues that have marred the production of its newest jets. It would also provide a boost to the local economy.

“Boeing probably realizes that divesting its Wichita operations that make up the core of Spirit was a big mistake,” Melius Research analyst Scott Mikus said.

The re-entry of Spirit into the Boeing fold will likely only resolve some problems facing the 737 MAX program. Still, analysts say it will give it more resources to focus on quality control and address mounting pressure from regulations. It also would show that Boeing is serious about taking its supplier relationship problems in-house. The US planemaker has been under pressure to change the way it manages its supply chain after a deadly crash of an MAX jet. The FAA has grounded the 737 MAX fleet worldwide while investigating the cause of the problem, which was linked to a faulty sensor.