Airport could be in line for 2nd Boeing assembly plant

COLUMBIA — With the state's unemployment rate at an all-time high and the ongoing evaporation of manufacturing jobs, the thought of an aircraft assembly line moving to North Charleston is encouraging.

Economic development officials hope reports that Boeing is considering Charleston for an expansion of its 787 Dreamliner production turn out to be true.

"It would be quite a coup," said Lewis Gossett, president of the S.C. Manufacturers Alliance.

This week, Flightglobal, an aviation Web site, reported that Vought Aircraft Industries is selling its 787 fuselage plant to Boeing. The Wall Street Journal also reported negotiations over the sale.

As a result of the sale, North Charleston would be a likely candidate for a possible second full-scale assembly line for the new plane, industry analysts have said. The existing production line is in Everett, Wash.

Reports have said that this area has an advantage over the Seattle area because of South Carolina's lower wages, tax incentives and plenty of room to expand.

The S.C. Department of Commerce would not comment on the reports.

David Jennings, chairman of the Charleston County Aviation Authority, said he had heard speculation about a possible expansion, mostly through media reports.

"I think it would be great to have them expand their operation," Jennings said.

The Vought plant is on a swath of previously undeveloped property owned by the aviation authority at the Charleston International Airport.

The plant employed about 600 before cutbacks after a two-month strike at Boeing and a rash of manufacturing glitches.

Vought and neighboring 787 supplier Global Aeronautica are not using their entire 200-acre site, Jennings said. They are side-by-side factories that supply the 787 fuselage. About 60 percent of the airframe is made at the plants.

Neither company has approached the agency to inquire about additional land, he said.

"They have not had a conversation with us, which leads me to believe they are not concerned about space limitations," he said. "They have used some, and they have more."

The 787 production has been delayed, and a second assembly line would give Boeing a chance to catch up on its orders, reports said.

While the second assembly line project could take years to develop, it would be a shot in the arm for South Carolina's manufacturing sector.

The state has lost 29,000 manufacturing jobs in the past year, and the sector dropped 2,200 in May alone. Manufacturing jobs make up 11.5 percentof the state's total employment, the S.C. Employment Security Commission reported.

Despite the losses, manufacturing companies continue looking at South Carolina, Gossett said. But it's rare to find a company as big as Boeing that wants to expand and create hundreds of jobs, he said.

"You're talking about hunting elephants, and there's not a lot of them out there," he said.

Otis Rawl, president of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce, also could not confirm Boeing's plans for Charleston. He too had heard reports of the company bringing 300 to 400 jobs to the coast.

When Boeing scouted sites a few years ago to assemble its 787, there were concerns about finding enough qualified workers, Rawl said. It now should not be concerned about that problem.

"With the downturn in the economy, we've got a lot of qualified employees on the job market," he said.

David King, marketing director for the Central SC Alliance, an economic development group in the Midlands, said an expanded Boeing assembly line could attract suppliers to the state, and his group would be ready to work with them.

"If so, we would be in position to benefit," he said.

Katy Stech of The Post and Courier contributed to this report