• First Boeing 787 built in South Carolina rolls out of factory

    Mary Ann Chastain / Reuters

    The first 787 Dreamliner passenger jet to be assembled at Boeing's South Carolina facility is rolled out during a ceremony in North Charleston on Friday. The factory stood at the center of a bitter labor dispute last year and the site of a recent manufacturing glitch that threatened to disrupt the 787 production rate target.

    Mary Ann Chastain / Reuters

    Workers celebrate as the first 787 Dreamliner passenger jet to be assembled at Boeing's South Carolina facility is rolled out.

    The show-off tour and the rollout are a triumph for South Carolina, which has faced numerous setbacks before reaching this point.

    In 2011, the National Labor Relations Board questioned the legal standing of the site's new final assembly line when it charged Boeing with selecting South Carolina over Washington in retaliation against the Machinists union for past strikes.

    That legal specter evaporated last year when the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union did a deal with the company to secure the 737 MAX for Renton and dropped its objections to the Dreamliner production line here.

    Paul J. Richards / AFP - Getty Images

    A new Boeing 787 Dreamliner being built for Air India is seen on the production line at Boeing's new production facilities in North Charleston, South Carolina on Friday.

    The jet is capable of flights of around 8,000 nautical miles - here's a track left by a 19-hour test flight:

    The test pilots flew a 787 Dreamliner nonstop, drawing the Boeing logo over eight states. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    See other images of the 787 previously in PhotoBlog.

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  • Boeing hands over first 787 to All Nippon Airways

    By Rich Shulman

    Maybe I'm a little biased because this is so close to home, but it sure is nice to see American workers manufacturing a state of the art product. Full story.

    Tim Stake / Boeing / Handout/EPA

    Hundreds of Boeing employees and media gather near a Boeing 787 Dreamliner during a ceremony to celebrate the delivery of the first 787 to customer All Nippon Airways (ANA) of Japan during a ceremony at the company's headquarters in Everett, Wash., September 26. The delivery comes after a multi-year delay due to production issues on a project which had been in development since 2003.

    Ted S. Warren / AP

    An All Nippon Airways flight attendant displays the ceremonial key to its first Boeing 787 wide-body jet following a delivery celebration, Monday, Sept. 26 in Everett, Wash.

    Ted S. Warren / AP

    Boeing Co. workers and others gathered and hold up scarves that read "first delivery" and "we fly 1st" as they stand next to an ANA Boeing 787 during a delivery celebration, Monday, Sept. 26, in Everett, Wash.

     

  • Boeing delivers first 787 to Japanese airline

    Robert Sorbo / Reuters

    All Nippon Airway (ANA) flight captain Yoshiro Taneda looks over the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to be delivered to the Japanese airline at Boeing's Everett factory Aug. 6.

    Robert Sorbo / Reuters

    All Nippon Airway (ANA) Senior Executive Vice President Mitsuo Morimoto, second from left, and Boeing Vice President and General Manager of the 787 program Scott Fancher, second from right, celebrate the unveiling of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to be delivered to launch customer ANA at Boeing's Everett factory Aug. 6. Boeing presented the plane on Saturday, decked out with the blue and white colors of the Japanese airline, to ANA executives and crew under clear skies at its Everett factory north of Seattle. The first domestic flights are set to start in Japan in September.

     

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    Given the description of the plane below, the rollout of this aircraft sounds like it was something that was worth waiting for despite all of the delays.

    KING 5 News reports:

    The Dreamliner is not only a breakthrough because of what it's made out of, mostly of super strong carbon fiber and plastic composites, but because of the interior.

    Even the seats are different. Instead of having somebody's seat recline right into your face, the seat backs stay upright and it's the seat bottom that slides out.

    And the windows aren't like anything you've seen, there are no shades. Instead they are electronic and 30 percent bigger than on other jets.

    Boeing carefully studied attitudes people have about air travel and found that by the time passengers navigate the airport and security, they're ready for a break. The spacious interior is designed to give them that.

    Read more here.