Boeing eyes future expansion of 787 plant
November 26, 2024
As reported by the Post and Courier, Boeing has filed a “flurry of permit applications over the last year” – including four this month – pertaining to potential expansion of its 787 Dreamliner plant in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Although timelines for a provisional extension of the facilities have not been specified, an increase in output at the site (crucially, which remained largely unaffected by recent strike action) will be welcome news for both the manufacturer and its customers, with supplier shortages and previous quality issues having plagued the programme in recent years.
One permit – filed on 8 November – seeks to build a several-acre tarmac and parking area adjacent to the Dreamlifter loading and unloading area, a “specially designated area for components to be unloaded… for transport into the assembly building”. An extended employee car park and a hangar expansion (including paint facilities) have also been proposed.
Boeing South Carolina is the “home of the 787 Dreamliner, where the full cycle of 787 Dreamliner production” is performed, explains the US aerospace giant. Alongside the fabrication, assembly and delivery of the 787-8, 787-9 and 787-10 models, the site is also home to numerous other facilities: including Boeing Research & Technology and the company’s Propulsion Systems, Interior Responsibility Centre and Engineering Design Centre.
In Boeing’s October 2024 earnings call, it clarified 787 production was currently running at four per month, with plans to return to five per month by year-end. “As previously noted, we continue to work through production recovery plans on heat exchangers and delivery delays associated with seat certifications,” explained Boeing chief financial officer and executive vice president of finance Brian West. He added that Boeing finished the quarter with 30 aircraft in inventory that required rework, down five from the previous quarter; work projected to extend into 2025.
However, apparent expansion plans appear at odds with a recently announced wave of layoffs, including 220 redundancies at North Charleston – with the Charleston Business reporting that these positions will be eliminated as of 17 January 2025. According to the South Carolina Department of Commerce, Boeing’s North Charleston plant currently employs around 7,500 workers.
Boeing’s activity in South Carolina began in 2004 with the purchase of a joint venture (Vought Aircraft Industries and Global Aeronautica), which it dissolved to create Boeing Charleston; later named Boeing South Carolina. In October 2009, Boeing selected the North Charleston site for a second 787 assembly line, breaking ground on a new 1.2 million square foot final assembly and delivery facility that December. The first Boeing aircraft produced on the site was delivered to Air India in October 2012.
