Boeing Sees Progress on 787 With Third Assembly Line

Boeing Co. (BA) said a temporary assembly line to help boost production of its delayed 787 Dreamliner is now up and running.

The so-called surge line will help the company increase its production of the composite-plastic jets to 10 a month by the end of next year, from an average of 3.5 a month now. It also will help Boeing start assembling a bigger version of the plane, the 787-9, beginning next year, marketing chief Randy Tinseth said today in a blog post.

The line is the second one for the 787 inside Boeing’s main wide-body jet plant in Everett, Washington, the largest building in the world by volume, where it also assembles 747 jumbo jets, 777s and 767s. The company also builds the Dreamliner at a factory it opened last year in North Charleston, South Carolina, which rolled out its first plane in April.

“This is yet another major sign of progress allowing us to get more and more airplanes into the hands of our customers,” Tinseth said of the surge line.

Boeing delivered the first 787 to Japan’s All Nippon Airways late last year, 3 1/2 years behind schedule after the planemaker struggled with new materials and production processes. The Chicago-based company has orders for more than 800 of the long-range jets.

To contact the reporter on this story: Susanna Ray in Seattle at sray7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net