At the beginning of the first production line in a hangar in North Charleston, South Carolina on the east coast of the United States, the wings, cockpit, cabin and tail of the aircraft were still detached.

It will take about a month for the components to be connected and the interior equipped, with the aircraft comprising 2.3 million parts in total. The finishing touches are made in the car park.

Boeing has already managed to increase the production rate from less than two 787s per month at the end of 2021 to four, and hopes to increase to five by the end of the year.

At the beginning of the 787 Dreamliner assembly line at Boeing's plant in North Charleston, North Carolina, the large parts are still detached Juliette © MICHEL / AFP

On the second line, three aircraft installed in the opposite direction are inspected. Already completed but not yet delivered, they had to return to the hangar after the discovery since the summer of 2020 of several production defects to be scrutinized and, if necessary, adjusted.

Boeing still has several dozen planes to examine but plans to do so entirely from its plant in Everett, in the northwest of the United States, by the end of the year. The second line in Charleston can then be dedicated to assembly, bringing production to ten 787s per month by 2025-2026.

The group would then approach the pre-pandemic rate of 14 aircraft per month, when assembly was spread over two sites, in North Charleston and Everett. Boeing made the decision at the end of 2020 to consolidate production of all versions of the 787 on the East Coast.

The manufacturer is not worried about possible cancellations of orders by customers annoyed by the delays.

"Our problem at the moment is mainly to deliver these aircraft to customers. They want them and they want them quickly," said Lane Ballard, head of the 787 program, during a press visit Tuesday and Wednesday to Boeing sites in South Carolina in preparation for the Paris Air Show from June 19 to 25.

At the end of the 787 Dreamliner assembly line at Boeing's plant in North Charleston, North Carolina. The finishes are carried out on the Juliette car park © MICHEL / AFP

Best sellers

After the rebound last year of its flagship aircraft, the medium-haul 737 MAX, which allowed Boeing to deliver its best performance in terms of deliveries since 2018, the manufacturer is betting on the 787 to return to better financial health after four consecutive years in the red.

The drop in air traffic on long flights during the pandemic had plunged the widebody aircraft market, already suffering before the pandemic. But orders have picked up in recent months.

Boeing currently produces four 787 Dreamliners a month at the plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, and hopes to increase to five per month by the end of 2023 © Juliette MICHEL / AFP

Boeing, with the 787 and 777, historically dominates this segment with higher margins, with Airbus competing with its A350s and A330s.

After the shutdown of the very large 747, the exhaustion of the 777 in passenger version and the delay on the certification of the 777X, which will occur only in 2025, five years late, Boeing is counting on the 787.

The manufacturer had made a bet when the program was launched in 2004 by choosing carbon-fiber-based composite materials for the fuselage and wings instead of metal alloys. The aircraft is lighter and therefore consumes less fuel.

The rear of the aircraft is also produced at the North Charleston site, in an adjacent hangar, while the rest of the large parts are brought from Italy, Japan and Kansas, in one of four Boeing Dreamlifters, 747s specially modified for the transport of bulky cargo.

The Dreamlifter, a plane specially modified to transport parts of the Boeing 787, in the parking lot of the North Charleston, North © Carolina site Juliette MICHEL / AFP

The 787, which entered service in 2011, has garnered more than 250 orders in the past six months.

Darren Hulst, Boeing's head of commercial aircraft marketing, said: "It is almost guaranteed that by the end of the year, the 787 will become the most popular wide-body passenger aircraft in history" with orders exceeding Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s.

© 2023 AFP