Boeing Breaks Ground On Major 787 Expansion In South Carolina
ID 20597729 | Boeing 787 © Grzegorz Kieca | Dreamstime.com
Boeing has officially broken ground on a major expansion of its Boeing South Carolina (BSC) facility in North Charleston, the home of the 787 Dreamliner program.
The site, located adjacent to Charleston International Airport (CHS), is being scaled up to support a planned production rate of 10 Boeing 787s per month in 2026, driven by strong demand for the -8, -9, and -10 variants.
This is part of a more than $1 billion infrastructure program announced in late 2024, aimed at both increasing capacity and modernizing the campus. Over the next five years, Boeing expects to create more than 1,000 new jobs in South Carolina as a result of the project.
What The Expansion Includes
The BSC build-out will significantly increase both manufacturing and support space across the Airport Campus and the nearby second campus. Key elements of the expansion include:
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A new final assembly building roughly matching the existing 787 final assembly hall at about 1.2 million square feet, with full airplane production positions, support areas, and office space
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A parts preparation facility, plus a vertical fin paint building and additional Flight Line stalls at the Airport Campus
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Additions to the Interiors Responsibility Center, where many of the 787’s interior components and cabin elements are produced
Construction will be handled by a joint venture between HITT Contracting and BE&K Building Group, and is expected to employ more than 2,500 people over 6.2 million construction hours.
Dreamliner Demand Is Driving The Build-Out
The South Carolina expansion is being driven by one clear fact: the 787 remains the best-selling widebody passenger aircraft in history.
Boeing reports that:
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More than 2,250 787s have been ordered by around 90 customers worldwide
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Over 1,200 Dreamliners have already been delivered
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The current backlog is nearly 1,000 aircraft, including more than 300 orders added just this year
According to Boeing’s long-term Commercial Market Outlook, airlines around the world are expected to need more than 7,800 new widebody jets over the next 20 years. The expanded South Carolina facility is intended to be a central part of meeting that demand, especially as airlines continue to favor fuel-efficient twinjets for long-haul flying.
Boeing South Carolina’s Role In The 787 Program
For more than a decade, Boeing South Carolina has hosted the full 787 production cycle, fabricating, assembling, and delivering all three Dreamliner variants:
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787-8
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787-9
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787-10
Boeing established operations in South Carolina in 2009, and today employs more than 8,200 people across its facilities in North Charleston and Orangeburg.
With the new buildings and support infrastructure coming online, BSC will be positioned not only to raise output, but also to streamline production flow, add interior capability, and reduce bottlenecks as the 787 program matures and grows.
Bottom line
Boeing has kicked off a multi-year, billion-dollar expansion of its Boeing South Carolina site, laying the groundwork to build 10 Dreamliners per month starting in 2026. The project doubles down on North Charleston as a core widebody manufacturing hub, adds more than 1,000 jobs, and provides the capacity Boeing needs to work through a near-1,000-aircraft 787 backlog in a market that’s expected to demand thousands more widebodies in the decades ahead.
