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

The first section of the Boeing 787-9 fuselage has left Alenia Aermacchi’s Monteiasi-Grottaglie plant, bound for Boeing’s final assembly line in Charleston, South Carolina. Also a supplier on the 787-8 program, Alenia Aermacchi has already delivered more than 100 fuselage sections for the baseline Dreamliner six years after opening the Monteiasi-Grottaglie plant in Italy’s Apulia region.


“The achievement of this important milestone marks how the industrial plant Monteiasi-Grottaglie has been able to cope with and succeed despite very strict production challenges,” said Alenia Aermacchi CEO Giuseppe Giordo.


The company produces the 787’s horizontal stabilizer and the mid and center-rear fuselage sections, consisting of 14 percent of the entire structure. Originally the mid and center-rear sections were mated to the rear section at Charleston before shipping to Boeing’s final assembly line at Everett but more recently Boeing has opened a second final assembly line in Charleston as well.


Formerly known as Alenia Aeronautica, the Italian company’s North American subsidiary once participated in partial assembly of the carbon-fiber fuselage in Charleston through its equal partnership in Global Aeronautica, first with Vought and then with Boeing. However, roughly a year after buying Vought’s stake, Boeing bought the other half from Alenia to give it complete control over quality processes and to ensure faster delivery of the fuselage sections.

Alenia Aermacchi Ships First 787-9 Fuselage Section

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