Boeing announced a US$ 1 billion investment to expand the Charleston, South Carolina plant, where all variants of the 787 Dreamliner are currently produced exclusively.
The plan involves hiring 500 more people to join the company’s current 7,800 employees and expanding its two campuses to support widebody production targets starting in 2027.
The planemaker is currently working toward a goal of increasing production to 10 aircraft per month by 2026. As of November, there were 785 pending 787 delivery orders.
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“Since the creation of Boeing South Carolina in 2009, we’ve marked many important milestones – including consolidating 787 Dreamliner production to South Carolina. This decision reflects Boeing’s commitment to the workforce, the 787 program and the community,” said Scott Stocker, general manager of the 787 Program.
Puget Sound strike
The announcement comes just over a month after the end of a strike involving approximately 33,000 workers at the historic Renton and Everett plants in Puget Sound, the latter of which also assembled the 787 in the past.
Negotiations were tough and resulted in a 38% wage increase for the next four years. Charleston, on the other hand, continued to operate without interruption.
The plant offered financial advantages to Boeing due to its lower labor costs, but persistent production failures have caused the assembly line to be shut down several times in recent years.
Deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner family were 31 aircraft in 2022, 73 in 2023 and until November of this year, only 42 jets.
