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This question already has an answer here:

This is sort of the inverse of this question.

I was looking at the Boeing facility in Renton, WA in Google maps, and I realized, the airport is across the (Cedar) river from what I assume to be the construction facility. The Boeing facility in Everett, WA is also across Highway 526 from the airport. That prompted this question: How is an airplane that just finished getting built (in any facility) delivered to the airline that bought it?

This question is targeted at large passenger aircraft being delivered to airlines.

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marked as duplicate by Federico♦, kevin, Simon, GdD, DeltaLima Mar 11 '17 at 11:32

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

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    $\begingroup$ @DanPriest I would not say this is a duplicate. If planes are always flown to their customers, how do they take off from that Boeing facility? How do they get across the river? The Boeing Everett facility is across a highway from the airport there too. $\endgroup$ – kingledion Mar 11 '17 at 3:09
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    $\begingroup$ See aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/3367/… for a related question. $\endgroup$ – Peter Kämpf Mar 11 '17 at 14:58
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They are flown to their customers by either Boeing or pilots from the given airline.

As for the Boeing factory its self, the Everett Factory users Paine Field as their runway. If you look closely there is a bridge that crosses the highway and connects the plant to the main ramp of the airport. This appears to be painted for car traffic but is also used for aircraft. The Renton Factory lies adjacent to Renton Municipal which it uses to fly the aircraft in and out there is also a small bridge connecting them over the river.

Similarly the main airbus factory is located next to Toulouse–Blagnac Airport. Bombardier lies next to Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

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    $\begingroup$ The bridge appears to be painted for both car and aircraft traffic—the centre-line is yellow and connects to the other yellow taxiway lines at the Paine Field side. $\endgroup$ – Jan Hudec Mar 11 '17 at 8:37
  • $\begingroup$ @JanHudec For what it's worth, in my experience driving in the United States, the center line of a two-way road is always yellow. But it's not usually thick and solid like the one on that bridge appears to be. $\endgroup$ – Timber Swett Mar 15 '17 at 16:38
  • $\begingroup$ @TannerSwett, but airport convention is that yellow lines are for aircraft and white ones for ground stuff $\endgroup$ – Jan Hudec Mar 16 '17 at 14:56
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Final assembly usually takes place at a location with its own runways or collocated with an airport, so once airframe assembly is complete, the aircraft undergoes its final inspections, test and acceptance flight and is then simply flown to a location specified by the customer, typically a hub or maintenance base.

To use the Everett facility as an example, it is adjacent to Paine Field (KPAE) and the assembly facilities have direct access to the airport environment.

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    $\begingroup$ Is there supposed to be more to this post? It seems to just end... $\endgroup$ – kingledion Mar 11 '17 at 3:54
  • $\begingroup$ @kingledion no, there wasn't supposed to be. My brain must've broken while editing the answer and didn't spot it. Thx for pointing it out. Edit made. $\endgroup$ – habu Mar 13 '17 at 21:02
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In general the customer sends their own pilots out to take delivery of the airplane. Usually they are immediately pressed into service. When I was out at the Everett facility in summer 2000, we had customers who would pick up a 777 at KPAE, then make the short flight south to Sea Tac Intl right to the gate and immediately fuel and load it for a intercontinental flight.

Most aircraft factories are located at public airports for exactly that reason. See the VFR sectional for the Wichita KS area.

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Boeing does not ship airplanes to customers! Getting the wings put on happens at Boeing, because they have the equipment & expertise to perform this crucial step correctly; that's not something you want being done after delivery. "Some assembly required" works fine for many things, but not for airliners!

When the airplane leave the factory, it is flown to the purchasing airline -- typically by that airline's own pilots, as discussed in this question.

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    $\begingroup$ I think the intent of the question was more along the lines of: how does the aircraft get from the factory to the airfield so that it can be flown to the airline's requested destination, since the facility and airfield appear to be separated by a river in one case, and a highway in the other. $\endgroup$ – Jimmy Mar 11 '17 at 4:54

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