North Carolina Construction News staff writer
Boeing marked the groundbreaking of a major expansion at its South Carolina site, home of the 787 Dreamliner program. The investment, exceeding $1 billion, will allow the facility to increase production to 10 airplanes per month by 2026 and create more than 1,000 new jobs over the next five years.
The expansion will include a new 1.2-million-square-foot final assembly building, a parts preparation area, a vertical fin paint facility, flight line stalls, and enhancements to the Interiors Responsibility Center, where many of the 787’s interior components are manufactured.
Construction will be led by a joint venture of HITT Contracting and BE&K Building Group, employing more than 2,500 workers and accounting for over 6.2 million construction hours.
“Boeing continues to see strong demand for the 787 Dreamliner family and its market-leading efficiency and versatility,” said Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We are making this significant investment today to ensure Boeing is ready to meet our customers’ needs in the years and decades ahead.
“This site expansion is a testament to the incredible work of our Boeing teammates and deepens our commitment to them, to South Carolina, and to American manufacturing.”
Since establishing operations in South Carolina in 2009, Boeing has delivered more than 1,200 Dreamliners from its campuses in North Charleston and Orangeburg. The 787 family remains the best-selling widebody passenger airplane of all time, with more than 2,250 orders from 90 customers worldwide. The current backlog stands at nearly 1,000 airplanes, including more than 300 added this year.
The commercial aviation industry is expected to need more than 7,800 new widebody airplanes over the next two decades, according to Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook, underscoring the growing demand that this expansion is designed to meet.
For over a decade, Boeing South Carolina has been central to the full 787 production cycle, fabricating, assembling, and delivering the 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10 models to customers around the world. The new expansion will enhance the site’s production capacity, provide modernized facilities for employees, and strengthen the state’s role in advanced manufacturing and aerospace.