Boeing on Friday broke ground on an over $1 billion expansion of its 787 Dreamliner facility in South Carolina.
The aerospace manufacturer plans to add a new, roughly 1.2 million-square-foot final assembly building to its campus near Charleston International Airport. Also in the works are a parts preparation facility, vertical fin paint facility, and flight line stalls, as well as additions to an aircraft interiors center.
The expansion supports Boeing’s plan to increase production of the 787 to 10 aircraft per month by 2026, company officials said.
“We continue to see strong demand for the 787 Dreamliner family and its market-leading efficiency and versatility,” Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a news release. “We are making this significant investment today to ensure Boeing is ready to meet our customer’s needs in the years and decades ahead.”
Boeing South Carolina fabricates, assembles, and delivers the three Dreamliner types — the 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10. The company has about 8,200 workers across its campuses in North Charleston and Orangeburg, and that number is expected to climb by around 1,000 over the next five years as a result of the expansion project.
Federal and state officials, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Gov. Henry McMaster, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, praised Boeing for investing in the site and adding jobs there.
Boeing has delivered around 1,200 787s and has a backlog of about 1,000.
