(Updates with background from last few months)

July 1 (Reuters) - Boeing ( BA ) has agreed to buy back

Spirit AeroSystems ( SPR ) for $4.7 billion in stock, ending the

near-two-decade independence of the world's largest standalone

aerostructures company.

Boeing's ( BA ) arch-rival, Airbus, which became a Spirit

customer after Boeing ( BA ) spun it off, will take on the supplier's

loss-making Europe-focused activities in return for hundreds of

millions of dollars of compensation.

The deal comes after a cabin panel blow out on a Boeing

737 MAX aircraft in January sprawled into a massive

reputational and safety crisis, with regulatory scrutiny on

Boeing's ( BA ) quality lapses.

Here is a timeline of recent issues surrounding the MAX

since the crashes in 2018 and 2019:

OCTOBER 2018: A Lion Air MAX plane crashes in Indonesia, killing

all 189 people on board.

NOVEMBER 2018: The FAA and Boeing ( BA ) begin evaluating the need for

software or design changes to 737 MAX jets following the Lion

Air crash.

MARCH 2019: An Ethiopian Airlines MAX crashes, killing all 157

people on board. China becomes the first country to ground the

MAX, followed by others including the U.S. Federal Aviation

Administration.

APRIL 2019: The FAA forms an international team to review the

safety of 737 MAX. Boeing ( BA ) cuts monthly production by nearly 20%.

SEPTEMBER 2019: Boeing's ( BA ) board creates a permanent safety

committee to oversee development, manufacturing and operation of

its aircraft.

OCTOBER 2019: Boeing ( BA ) fires Kevin McAllister, the top executive

of its commercial airplanes division.

DECEMBER 2020: The company fires CEO Dennis Muilenburg in the

wake of the twin crashes.

JANUARY 2020: Boeing ( BA ) suspends 737 production, its biggest

assembly-line halt in more than 20 years.

MAY 2020: Boeing ( BA ) resumes 737 MAX production at a "low rate".

JUNE 2020: Boeing ( BA ) begins a series of long-delayed flight tests

of its redesigned 737 MAX with regulators at the controls.

NOVEMBER 2020: The FAA lifts the grounding order, allowing the

737 MAX to fly again.

DECEMBER 2020: Congress passes legislation to reform how the FAA

certifies new airplanes, including requiring manufacturers to

disclose certain safety-critical information to the regulator.

JANUARY 2021: The European Union Aviation Safety Agency approves

the MAX's return to service in Europe.

MARCH 2021: China's aviation regulator says major safety

concerns with the MAX needed to be "properly addressed" before

conducting flight tests.

APRIL 2021: Boeing ( BA ) halts 737 MAX deliveries after electrical

problems re-ground part of the fleet.

NOVEMBER 2021: Current and former Boeing directors reach a

$237.5 million settlement with shareholders to settle lawsuits

over safety oversight of the 737 MAX.

OCTOBER 2022: The FAA tells Boeing ( BA ) that some key documents

submitted as part of the certification review of the 737 MAX 7

are incomplete and others need a reassessment.

DECEMBER 2022: Congress agrees to extend a deadline for new

standards for modern cockpit alerts stemming from the 2020

legislation after intense lobbying from Boeing ( BA ).

APRIL 2023: Boeing ( BA ) pauses deliveries of some 737 MAXs to deal

with a new supplier quality problem involving non-compliant

fittings.

JULY 2023: Boeing's ( BA ) first delivery of the 737 MAX 7 is delayed

to 2024.

AUGUST 2023: Boeing ( BA ) identifies a new 737 MAX supplier quality

problem involving improperly drilled holes on the aft pressure

bulkhead.

SEPTEMBER 2023: Boeing 737 MAX deliveries fall to their lowest

levels since August 2021.

DECEMBER 2023: Boeing ( BA ) makes its first direct delivery of a 787

Dreamliner to China since 2019, seen as a precursor to the

country potentially unfreezing deliveries of the 737 MAX.

JANUARY 2024: A mid-air cabin blowout compels Alaska Air ( ALK ) to

perform an emergency landing of its recently acquired 737 MAX 9

aircraft, prompting the FAA to ground 171 of these jets and

initiate an investigation. The FAA bars Boeing ( BA ) from increasing

MAX output, but lifts the grounding of MAX-9s once inspections

were completed.

FEBRUARY 2024: The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board

published its preliminary report on the Alaska Air ( ALK ) incident.

According to the investigation, the door panel that flew off the

jet mid-flight appeared to be missing four key bolts.

MARCH 2024: The FAA's 737 MAX production audit found multiple

instances where Boeing ( BA ) and supplier Spirit AeroSystems ( SPR )

allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control

requirements. This came days after Boeing ( BA ) said it was in

preliminary talks to buy Spirit.

The crisis may mean Boeing ( BA ) will need more time to hit key

financial targets for coming years, its CFO warned. The

planemaker also said top boss Dave Calhoun would step down at

the end of the year.

APRIL 2024: 737 MAX production falls as U.S. regulators step up

factory checks and workers slow the assembly line outside

Seattle to complete outstanding work.

May 2024: The U.S. Department of Justice says Boeing ( BA ) breached

its obligations in a 2021 agreement that shielded it from

criminal prosecution over 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.

The FAA head says he does not expect the agency will quickly

give Boeing ( BA ) the authority to boost 737 MAX production.

June 2024: U.S. senators attack Boeing ( BA ) CEO for the planemaker's

tarnished safety record.

July 1, 2024: Boeing ( BA ) acquires Spirit back in an all-stock deal

for $4.7 billion in equity value. The deal comes as Boeing ( BA ),

which had sold Spirit in 2005 to cut costs, attempts to solve

its quality hurdles and accelerate jet deliveries.

(Reporting by David Gaffen, Nathan Gomes and Ananta Agarwal;

Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Arun Koyyur)