Boeing, Virgin Galactic settle lawsuit over work on Virgin 'mothership'

Boeing and Virgin Galactic have settled a lawsuit stemming from Boeing's work on Virgin Galactic's space tourism "mothership," according to a Thursday filing in Virginia federal court.

A docket entry in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said the case had been resolved after a settlement conference held earlier that day.

Virgin Galactic attorney Brett Williamson and Boeing said in emails that the lawsuit was "satisfactorily resolved by mutual agreement of the parties."

The companies did not provide more information about the settlement.

Virgin Galactic's mothership jet carrier delivers sightseeing vessels into suborbital space. The company completed its first commercial flight last year.

Virgin signed a contract with Boeing's Aurora Flight Sciences in 2022 to help design a new mothership. Boeing later said that the mothership would cost more and take longer to develop than expected.

Boeing sued Virgin in March, accusing it of stealing trade secrets and refusing to pay $25 million owed for Boeing's work. The lawsuit said Virgin took proprietary information from Boeing including test data and math equations.

Virgin countersued in California in April, claiming Boeing performed "shoddy and incomplete work" on the aircraft. Virgin said it was entitled to monetary damages of at least "the difference between the $45.6 million paid by Virgin Galactic to Boeing and the substantially lower actual value of Boeing's performance."

Virgin dismissed the California lawsuit in June and said it would pursue its claims in the Virginia case.

A jury trial was set to start in December in the Virginia case.

The case is The Boeing Company and Aurora Flight Sciences Corp v. Virgin Galactic LLC, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, No. 1:24-cv-00456.