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By the Leeham News Team

Nov. 10, 2025, © Leeham News: Boeing on Friday broke ground at its Charleston (SC) 787 production campus for a second final assembly line (FAL) building to meeting growing demand for the airplane.

Boeing's current footprint in Charleston (SC). (Note the airplane-shaped park in the upper left.) Credit: Boeing.

Boeing has announced more than 300 orders for the 787-9 and 787-10 this year. There are now more than 1,000 787s in backlog. More than 1,200 have been delivered.

There are hundreds of more options for the airplane and even more Letters of Intent.

Boeing will construct a building, left, of 1.2m sf--the size of the Composite Wing Center in Everett (WA), doubling 787 assembly capacity. Credit: Boeing.

Boeing currently is assembling seven aircraft a month at the plant, its peak at this facility before the COVID pandemic began in March 2020. The Charleston facility then matched the 7/mo also being assembled at Boeing’s Everett plant. Following COVID and the virtual halt in production during much of the two year effects of the pandemic, Boeing consolidated all 787 production in Charleston.

The facility currently has a maximum capacity of 10/mo. CEO Kelly Ortberg said on the 3Q2025 earnings call that that the expansion will double the capacity.

“We're going to double the…manufacturing footprint. We don't need double, but it also gives us a lot more flexibility for some storage space as well. We think that the market demand will allow us to get to rates in the teens, and that's what we're focused on,” Ortberg said on the call. The plant will open in 2028, according to current planning.

LNA has analyzed Boeing’s current 787 backlog, using the database dated Oct. 7 from Cirium.  The database trails Boeing’s website backlog of 1,048 as of Oct. 31, showing a firm order backlog of 997. However, Cirium’s data also shows Boeing’s Options and Letters of Intent. Delivery years are shown in all four categories.

Using this data, LNA plotted the entire delivery stream, extending to 2043.