Boeing Confirms End of 787 Dreamliner Production in Washington State

The COVID-19 pandemic just claimed another victim in the aerospace industry: Boeing's (NYSE: BA) experiment with building the 787 Dreamliner wide-body jet in two different facilities. On Thursday, the aircraft manufacturer confirmed recent news reports, saying that it will end 787 production at its main wide-body plant in Everett, Washington, by mid-2021. Its newer factory in North Charleston, South Carolina will become its sole 787 assembly plant thereafter.

This long-rumored move represents a major blow to Washington's aerospace industry. It also suggests that Boeing does not expect 787 production to return to 2019 levels at any point in the foreseeable future.

Just last year, Boeing increased production of the 787 family of small and medium wide-body jets to meet high demand. During 2019 and early 2020, the company built 787s at a rate of 14 per month, up from 12 per month previously. This marked the highest production rate for a wide-body jet in history.

Source Fool.com