Boeing breaks ground on $1bn South Carolina expansion to boost 787 Dreamliner production
November 10, 2025
Boeing has begun work on a major expansion of its 787 Dreamliner facility in North Charleston, South Carolina, in a move designed to ramp up widebody production to meet growing demand.
The aerospace manufacturer plans to invest more than $1 billion in the project, which will create over 1,000 new jobs and expand its footprint near Charleston International Airport.
The enlarged site will support a planned increase in 787 output to 10 aircraft per month by 2026.
It is fending off competition from Airbus, which recently announced plans to raise output of the A350 to 12 a month by 2028.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by senior Boeing executives and political leaders, including Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Stephanie Pope.
“We continue to see strong demand for the 787 Dreamliner family and its market-leading efficiency and versatility,” said Pope.
“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.”
Boeing expanding in Charleston to meet record demand
The new facilities will include a second final assembly building, roughly 1.2 million square feet in size, matching the existing assembly hall, along with additional production support, office space, a parts preparation area, vertical fin paint facilities and new flight line stalls.
Boeing will also expand its Interiors Responsibility Center, where many of the Dreamliner’s cabin components are produced.
The construction, led by a joint venture between BE&K Building Group and HITT Contracting, will employ around 2,500 people and require an estimated 6.2 million labour hours to complete.
With over 2,250 orders and 1,200 deliveries to date, the 787 Dreamliner remains Boeing’s most successful widebody programme.
The company’s current backlog stands at nearly 1,000 aircraft, including more than 300 orders placed this year alone. Boeing’s latest Commercial Market Outlook forecasts demand for over 7,800 new widebody jets globally over the next two decades.
South Carolina’s political backing for aerospace growth
Boeing’s growing South Carolina operations have become a key pillar of the state’s manufacturing economy since the site opened in 2009.
More than 8,200 people are currently employed across its North Charleston and Orangeburg campuses, where all three 787 variants – the -8, -9 and -10 – are built and delivered.
Boeing’s North Charleston site has been central to the Dreamliner programme for more than a decade, overseeing fabrication, assembly and delivery to customers around the world.
The company said the expansion reaffirms its long-term commitment to US aerospace manufacturing and to meeting demand for long-haul aircraft.
Featured image: Boeing
