Boeing buys into N. Charleston fuselage maker

Boeing Co. said Wednesday that it finalized its purchase of half of Global Aeronautica LLC, a North Charleston company that assembles major piece of the fuselage for the new 787 jet.

Terms of the sale, which was announced in March, were not disclosed. The seller was Vought Aircraft Industries Inc.

Boeing's is now a partner in the 50-50 joint venture with Alenia North America, a U.S.-based subsidiary of Italy's Alenia Aeronautica.

At the Global Aeronautica plant at Charleston International Airport, mid-fuselage sections made in Italy and Japan are joined together and equipped with tens of thousands of internal components. The company then attaches those structures to rear fuselage sections made by Vought in a separate factory next door. The finished pieces are loaded onto a huge cargo jet and flown to Boeing's final assembly line near Seattle.

Vought's operations in North Charleston are not affected by the sale of its interest in Global Aeronautica.

"As a partner in the Global Aeronautica joint venture with Alenia North America, Boeing looks forward to applying its proven lean manufacturing expertise to enhance the efficiency and productivity of the facility's operations and ensure the timely delivery of high-quality assemblies to our Everett, Washington facility," said Pat Shanahan, a Boeing vice president and general manager of the 787 program.

The launch of the "Dreamliner" jet has been delayed several times, partly by production glitches in North Charleston. The first plane is now scheduled to be delivered in the third quarter of 2009.

The making of the 787 is a departure from the traditional method of assembling airplanes. Instead of building the jet in-house, Boeing has farmed out much of the manufacturing work to contractors around the world. Roughly 60 percent of the 787 body is being made and modified on the outskirts of Charleston International.

Boeing has already racked up about 900 orders for the lightweight passenger jet, which is made from composite materials instead of aluminum.

Wednesday's sale announcement came a day after Boeing allowed the media into the two North Charleston plants for the first time in about two years, partly to show that production of the 787 is getting back on track.