Aircraft
Boeing Decision on Second 787 Line Imminent
Boeing will reveal the location of its planned second final assembly line for the 787 “over the next couple of weeks,” CEO James McNerney said today.

Boeing will reveal the location of its planned second final assembly line for the 787 “over the next couple of weeks,” CEO James McNerney said today. Speaking during the company’s third-quarter earnings call, McNerney effectively narrowed the competition to Everett and Charleston, S.C., while downplaying the risk and redundancy of locating two lines that build the same product on opposite sides of the country.

“There would be execution challenges associated with that choice [of Charleston],” said McNerney. “But keep in mind that we’ve got a pretty good-sized operation in Charleston today, and there would be some duplication. We would obviously work to minimize that, but diversifying our labor pool and labor relationship has some benefits.”