Boeing is planning on building a longer version of the Boeing 787-10 in South Carolina. The first Boeing 787-10 dreamliner will not be scheduled for delivery until 2018.

Per the Wall Street Journal, The 787-10, a longer version of the Dreamliner that is scheduled for delivery in 2018, will be the first Boeing jetliner model to be built solely in a nonunion factory. It will mean not only increased output but a more sophisticated role for the plant, which Boeing broke ground on five years ago after decades of assembling its jetliners in its unionized base in Washington state and California.

On the 787-10, however, that midbody section is 114 feet long, or 10 feet longer than the same section of the next largest Dreamliner, the 787-9, meaning it won’t fit into the fleet of modified 747 aircraft that Boeing uses to fly its big jet parts from factory to factory, said Mr. Loftis.

At 224-feet long, the new version will be able to carry around 320 passengers, 15% more than the 787-9 and a third more than the original 787-8, which began commercial flights in late 2011. The 787-10 also will have a list price before discounts of $288.7 million, 36% more than the 787-8. Since it started selling the 787-10 in June 2013, Boeing has accumulated 132 orders from four airlines and two lessors.

Boeing now builds 10 787s a month: three in South Carolina and seven in Washington. The total will grow to 12 a month in 2016, and later 14 a month before the end of the decade. All of the increases will come in South Carolina, which will build five and then seven Dreamliners monthly, including the new 787-10, said Mr. Loftis.

Bottom Line

Boeing’s South Carolina factory is non-union, meaning this will be the first time a Dreamliner will be built in a non-union factory.

By 2018, Boeing will have built over 500 Dreamliner’s so adding the new Boeing 787-10 will be a great addition to their fleet.