Contracts for Boeing’s Dreamliner soar

The Boeing Co. is reporting that it closed out a record-setting jetliner order year in 2005, with the company’s 787 Dreamliner—the fuselage of which will be manufactured in North Charleston beginning this spring—off to one of the best starts ever for one of its new aircraft programs.

Boeing won more than 200 orders in 2005 for the 787, bringing to nearly 400 the total number of orders and commitments it has received for the plane since the program was formally launched in late 2003.

Most recently, Boeing signed a contract at the end of December with Air India that had been pending for 20 787s, company executives said.

Boeing will release its final 2005 order tally later this week. The company executives said orders for the 787 should continue to be strong in 2006.

Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. and Alenia Aeronautica will collaborate on building the fuselage components in a large, multi-building facility currently in the final construction stages near Charleston International Airport. To date, about 25 of the more than 650 workers the companies plan to hire have already gone through the initial state-run training program.

In one building, Vought workers will build the rear fuselage barrels. The Vought section will be joined, in a separate assembly plant under construction nearby, with a fuselage section made by Alenia. Once assembly and painting are completed, the fuselage components will be flown via modified 747s to Boeing’s assembly plant in Everett, Wash., to be integrated with other components of the plane built by contractors in Japan, Italy and other parts of the United States.

The first flight of the Dreamliner 787 is planned for 2007.