Boeing Opens New 777X Wing Factory

Boeing has opened a USD$1 billion factory in Washington state that will make carbon-composite wings for the 777X, a key step toward delivering the first aircraft by 2020.

The building, adjacent to Boeing's wide-body aircraft plant in Everett, Washington, covers 27 acres (11 hectares) putting under one roof the equivalent of more than 20 football fields, Boeing said.

The facility will play an important role "in keeping the Puget Sound (region) at the forefront of aerospace leadership for decades to come," Ray Conner, chief executive of Boeing commercial planes, said in a statement.

Boeing's investment in the wing plant and its decision to build the 777X in Washington fulfill a commitment the company made in 2013, when the state approved a package of industry tax reductions worth USD$8.7 billion over 16 years.

Boeing has 320 orders from six customers for the 777X, which replaces the 777, introduced in 1995.

The company plans to start building 777Xs next year and deliver the first in 2020, after testing and certification.

The new factory will house three large autoclaves, or pressure ovens, for curing the jet's carbon-composite wings, which replace the conventional metal construction process used for the current 777.

The autoclaves are 120 feet (37 m) long and 28 feet (9 m) in diameter and weigh more than 1 million pounds (453,600 kg) each, large enough to hold two 737 fuselages, Boeing said.

Boeing plans two versions of the 777X: the -8, with about 350 seats and a range of 9,300 nautical miles; and the larger -9 with about 400 seats and a range of 8,200 nautical miles.

The smaller 777X competes with the Airbus A350-1000, a composite-fuselage aircraft that the European plane maker plans to introduce in 2017. The Airbus jet seats about 366 passengers and has a range of 7,900 nautical miles.

Airbus last year introduced the smaller A350-900, which seats 325 passengers and can fly up to 8,100 nautical miles.