Boeing

Boeing [NYSE:BA] and Spirit AeroSystems celebrated the public unveiling of the first all-composite demonstration nose section for the 787 Dreamliner today at Spirit's Wichita facility, formerly a part of The Boeing Company.

The section, which is highly contoured, demonstrates the facility's capabilities in meeting production demands for the 787.

"We have built several demonstration fuselage sections of the airplane at our facilities in Seattle," said Mike Bair, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. "Our partners, including Spirit, have worked alongside Boeing personnel in Seattle so that we can all learn about the new methods of building aerostructure. It's very rewarding to see the knowledge that was developed jointly by the global 787 team is being applied in the actual production facilities where the 787 will be manufactured."

Four additional fuselage sections -- including two more nose sections to be built by Spirit -- are scheduled to be completed before production of the first 787 begins next year.