Randy Tinseth: Charleston Line to be ready by July 2011, first Charleston 787 to deliver by end of March 2012

Randy Tinseth, BCA's VP of Marketing, reported in his blog that Boeing Charleston's Final Assembly Facility should be ready by July 2011 and the first 787 to be delivered from that facility should be handed over by the 1st quarter of 2012.

This time scale give Boeing roughly 20 months to build and outfit the facility and then get production rolling over the following 9 months.

Boeing, fed up with over twenty years of labor strife has decided to locate the second line for the 787 in North Charleton, SC right next to its existing facility that produces the rear fuselage for the 787 and the Global Aeronautica facility that integrates fuselage sections from Japan and Italy to form the main fuselage of the 787.

Some take aways from Randy's Blog:

"Something very important to point out: we’re adding jobs in South Carolina, not taking them away from Puget Sound."

"The process will take about 2 years. Our goal is to have the second line up and operational in July 2011, with a first airplane delivery from Charleston in the first quarter of 2012."

"We applied the same basic assumptions and ground rules to both sites, with a heavy emphasis on long-term competitiveness and ensuring a sustainable stream of deliveries for our customers."

You can read more on Randy Tinseth's Blog, Second Line