The future of the Boeing Company may be waiting in the wings in Everett.
Contractors are creating a new 1.3 million-square-foot factory where Boeing workers will eventually fabricate airplane wings for a new family of twin-aisle airplanes called the 777X.
The new plane marries the technology of the popular 777 with the material advances of the fuel-efficient Dreamliner. When the first 777X rolls off the factory floor sometime around 2020, it will be the largest and most efficient twin-engine jet in the world.
That efficiency largely comes from the wings that will be fabricated from a super light and strong carbon fiber composite material. At a groundbreaking ceremony, Boeing chief executive officer Ray Conner called them “the most phenomenal wings in the world.” He said the composite wings would take Boeing into the next century.
A lot of the future is riding on those wings.