Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

Boeing announced today that it has joined the first 747-8’s wing box to the airplane’s 40-foot-long center fuselage section in the final assembly bay at its factory in Everett, Wash. Meanwhile, workers continue 
<link news>to prepare the wing and center section for final body join, when the center fuselage-wing assembly gets connected to the forward and aft fuselage sections. 
“We continue to gain momentum on the assembly of the first 747-8 Freighter,” said Mo Yahyavi, vice president and general manager of the 747 program. “The airplane is coming together well and will be ready to fly later this year as planned.” Boeing’s schedules call for first flight of the airplane by year-end and delivery of the first production airplane to Cargolux by next year’s third quarter. 
Yahyavi’s assurance comes as questions have begun to arise about whether Boeing would divert further resources from the 747-8 to the 787, after the 
<link news>most recent delay to the Dreamliner’s first flight. Boeing has not yet reset its first-flight target for the Dreamliner, nor has it said if it will divert more 747-8 resources to the project, however.
The 747 Program has secured firm orders for 78 of the new freighters, from Cargolux, Nippon Cargo Airlines, AirBridgeCargo Airlines, Atlas Air, Cathay Pacific, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, Emirates SkyCargo, Guggenheim and Korean Air. Lufthansa remains the only customer for the passenger version of the airplane, the 747-8 Intercontinental, schedules for which call for first delivery in the second quarter of 2011.

Boeing Joins 747-8 Wing Box to Center Section

Boeing announced today that it has joined the first 747-8’s wing box to the airplane’s 40-foot-long center fuselage section in the final assembly bay at it

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN