Maintenance and Modifications
Independent centers prep for 787 completion challenge
Boeing Business Jets has already sold a dozen of its new 787s for configuration as private aircraft, and the independent completion centers are climbing th

Boeing Business Jets has already sold a dozen of its new 787s for configuration as private aircraft, and the independent completion centers are climbing the learning curve required to install interiors in an all-composite fuselage.

While Boeing claims the structural interface will be “easier [than] or the equivalent” of an aluminum airplane, completion centers remain unconvinced, even after a one-week symposium at which the OEM met with representatives from most Boeing-approved facilities. “The fact is that we will have to rethink all the design engineering we’ve developed for aluminum airplanes,” said one completion center executive.