CHICAGO-Boeing Co. plans to adopt air transportation as its primary method to deliver large subassemblies, such as fuselage and wing sections. Its goal is to dramatically reduce the time it takes to transport components from suppliers. Boeing plans to implement the strategy with its new 7E7 airliner, which is currently under development.

The company projects possible savings of 20 percent to 40 percent compared to traditional shipping methods. It claims the strategy will reduce the amount of time it takes large parts to arrive at the final assembly site from as many as 30 days to only 1 day.