South Carolina

Boeing South Carolina fabricates, assembles and installs systems for aft (rear) fuselage sections of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and joins and integrates midbody fuselage sections. The site is also home to the newest 787 Dreamliner final assembly and delivery facility, which began production in July 2011. The 240-acre (97-hectare) facility is located in North Charleston. 

Boeing South Carolina began in 2004 as two companies: Vought Aircraft Industries, Charleston Operations, and Global Aeronautica LLC. Global Aeronautica was a joint venture formed by Alenia North America and Vought in support of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner program.

In June 2008, Boeing purchased Vought's share, making Global Aeronautica a joint venture of Boeing and Alenia North America. In July 2009, Boeing purchased Vought's North Charleston operations and in December purchased Alenia's portion of Global Aeronautica, dissolving the joint venture and creating Boeing Charleston (now Boeing South Carolina), a full Boeing site.

Today, Boeing South Carolina receives midbody parts and major subassemblies from partners in Italy and Japan via the Dreamlifters, a fleet of specially modified 747-400s. The Dreamlifters also deliver completed aft and midbody fuselage sections from North Charleston to 787 Final Assembly in Everett, Wash.

Boeing South Carolina fabricates and assembles the aft fuselage sections in a 381,000-square-foot (35,396-m²) facility. The aft body team is responsible for section 47, which is the last passenger section of the airplane, and section 48, which integrates the horizontal and vertical stabilizers and the aft pressure bulkhead.

Assembly and integration of the midbody fuselage occur in a 334,000-square-foot (31,030-m²) building. There, the team joins the four midfuselage components and integrates systems to the fuselage. After testing, the team applies surface finishes to the 787 fuselage sections in a 63,045-ft² (5,857-m²) paint facility.

In October 2009, Boeing selected the North Charleston site for a new 787 Dreamliner final assembly and delivery line. Boeing broke ground on the new, 1.2-million-square-foot (92,903-m²) facility in November 2009. South Carolina teammates began early limited production in July 2011. The first airplane rolled out of final assembly on April 27, 2012, took its first flight on May 23, 2012, and delivered to Air India on Oct. 5, 2012.

The Boeing South Carolina Delivery Center, a 57,920 square-foot (5,381-m²) facility, opened on Nov. 11, 2011, and delivers South Carolina-built 787s to customers from around the world. Boeing South Carolina is only the third site in the world to assemble and deliver twin-aisle commercial airplanes.

In May 2010, Boeing announced that it had chosen South Carolina as the location for a new facility to supply 787 interior parts to the final assembly and delivery site in North Charleston. Boeing Interiors Responsibility Center South Carolina is located 10 miles (16 km) from the final assembly and delivery facility. There employees manufacture 787 interior parts, including stow bins, closets, partitions, class dividers, floor-mounted stow bins used by flight attendants, overhead flight-crew rests, overhead flight attendant crew rests, video-control stations and attendant modules. The facility opened December 1, 2011.

Learn more: About Boeing South Carolina