The steel skeleton of Boeing’s second 787 Dreamliner factory in North Charleston is complete.

Boeing said it lifted the final steel beam into place at its new 787 final assembly building on Oct. 30, less than a year after breaking ground on the $1 billion investment, The Post and Courier reported Nov. 11. The company posted a video of the topping-out on X, according to the newspaper.

“What began as a plan on paper, is fast becoming a reality, and we’re excited to see the future taking shape,” the company said on social media, the Post and Courier reported.

The new building is a near duplicate of the original 787 factory and measures 1,037 by 614 feet, according to the newspaper. Its construction took 6,000 concrete trucks, and it is supported by 75,000 pieces of steel, Boeing said.

A familiar timeline

The pace echoes the first building. Boeing broke ground on its original North Charleston final assembly building in November 2009 and held a topping-out ceremony on Sept. 24, 2010, less than a year later, the company said at the time. The building opened in June 2011, and Boeing began assembling South Carolina-built 787s there that year.

Boeing broke ground on the expansion on Nov. 7, 2025. The company said then that it was investing more than $1 billion and planned to create more than 1,000 jobs over five years. The Post and Courier reported that Boeing has estimated it will need to add 1,000 workers to its South Carolina payroll by 2030.

Besides the second final assembly building, Boeing said in 2025 that the program includes upgrades at its site near Charleston International Airport and a second campus. A joint venture of HITT Contracting and BE&K Building Group is the construction manager, with BRPH as architect of record. Boeing said the construction effort would employ more than 2,500 people and take more than 6.2 million construction hours.

When it opens

The building is not expected to add capacity right away.

“In Charleston, our factory expansion is underway, and we expect the majority of the capability to come online late next year,” Chief Financial Officer Jay Malave said on Boeing’s Oct. 27 call with analysts. He said the second building will add a third production line to the two in the current building.

Over the long run, Boeing plans to build 14 or more 787s a month in North Charleston, the Post and Courier reported. Every 787 is assembled there; Boeing moved all Dreamliner final assembly to South Carolina in 2021.

Engines still set the pace

For now, the line is building eight 787s a month. The Post and Courier reported that production has been held back this year by a shortage of engines from GE Aerospace, one of the jet’s two engine suppliers. Rolls-Royce is the other.

In its quarterly report filed Oct. 27, Boeing said it had decided during the third quarter to delay planned 787 rate increases, with the next increase beyond eight a month now planned to begin in December. “Subsequent increases in production rates will be enabled by the completion of expansion projects underway in our Charleston facility and the ability of our supply chain to support higher rates,” the filing said.

When it broke ground a year ago, Boeing had said the site was set to reach 10 airplanes a month in 2026. Malave told analysts in October that the company expects to be producing about 12 787s a month in 2029.

A growing backlog

Demand has kept climbing while output holds steady. Boeing’s undelivered 787 orders now total just shy of 1,200 airplanes, according to figures released Nov. 10, the Post and Courier reported. Boeing reported 1,128 undelivered 787s on firm order at the end of September, up from 1,026 at the end of 2025, according to its quarterly filing.

A year ago, Boeing put the 787 backlog at nearly 1,000 airplanes after more than 1,200 deliveries.

Several recent orders include the 787-10, the longest Dreamliner model, which is built only in North Charleston. Korean Air finalized an order in September that included 25 787-10s, and Riyadh Air, Philippine Airlines and Biman Bangladesh Airlines also named the model in deals this year, Boeing said.

The workforce

Boeing said in November 2025 that it employed more than 8,200 people across its campuses in North Charleston and Orangeburg, where workers fabricate, assemble and deliver the 787-8, 787-9 and 787-10.

“We continue to see strong demand for the 787 Dreamliner family and its market-leading efficiency and versatility,” Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said at the groundbreaking.

Boeing has not announced a date for the first airplane to be assembled in the new building.