This paper reveals the different characteristics of stress distribution in center wing box, which is a primary structure of airplanes, using rivet joint and adhesive joint. The wing box model developed by Indonesian Aircraft Industry was simulated by commercial finite element analysis software. Bending load transferred from another set of wing structures was imposed on the model. The characteristics of Von Mises stress, maximum principal stress, and maximum shear stress distributions were investigated in the simulation. Those stress distributions in the wing box with different sets of joint between skin and stiffener, which are the rivet and the adhesion, were then compared under identical bending load conditions. The simulation results showed there is almost no stress concentration in the wing box skins in case of the adhesive joint is used. Furthermore, utilization of the adhesive joint decreases Von Mises stress values in the top skin up to 18%, bottom skin up to 34%, Z-type stiffeners up to 27%, and T-type stiffener up to 19% which can significantly reduce potential damage and failure of the wing box structures. This result shows the superiority of the adhesive to rivet joint in the subsystem component level, which can be a guideline in designing airplane joints and finding their appropriate adhesive materials