Boeing adding up to 1,000 workers in North Charleston

Boeing is adding as many as 1,000 contract workers at its North Charleston, S.C., plant to help overcome production problems with its 787 Dreamliner jets, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. The company is hiring more than 300 inspectors and mechanics at the factory, the paper reports, citing three sources familiar with the situation. The number of workers hired could rise to as much as 1,000.

The news comes amidst production struggles at the South Carolina plant, which the Journal says the aerospace giant hopes can assemble a third of the 120 Dreamliners it plans to produce this year. Last year, the North Charleston plant assembled 14 of 65 total Dreamliners delivered, the paper said.

Questions of productivity problems came into play recently as Boeing took bids from Charlotte and other cities around the country hoping to house Boeing's new 777X jet manufacturing plant. Union officials in Boeing's Seattle-area manufacturing stronghold pointed to the production issues in South Carolina as a key reason why the next plant should stay in Washington state.

Charlotte had offered to assemble 405 acres inside and adjacent to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, but Boeing officials turned the city's proposal down. After machinists in Boeing's Seattle-area manufacturing stronghold agreed to contract concessions, company officials said early this month that they will build the 777X in Washington state.

Charlotte economic developer: Boeing's a 'long shot'

Speaking to a gathering of corporate real estate professionals today, one of the region's top job recruiters said Charlotte is a "long shot" to win the emerging national bidding war for Boeing's planned 777X aircraft manufacturing plant.

Ronnie Bryant, CEO of the Charlotte Regional Partnership, made the comment during a speech at the City Club uptown to the Carolinas chapter of CoreNet Global, a professional group with chapters around the world. Bryant, whose group markets the 16-county Charlotte region to outside companies, said the Queen City is extremely competitive in recruiting jobs in many industries, including aerospace.

But referring to the quest to land the Boeing plant, he said: "I think it's a long shot for this market." Asked for elaboration after the event ended, Bryant told the Observer he didn't know if Charlotte and North Carolina would be able to match the kind of incentives other competitors are offering.

Charlotte is among more than a dozen cities and states submitting bids to win the plant and thousands of good-paying jobs that would come with it. Washington state, already home to a large Boeing presence, has offered an $8.7 billion incentives package to keep the new jobs there. "That's a big number," Bryant said. "We've never approved anything like that."

Gov. Pat McCrory and Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker have declined to talk about the project. Bryant said his group isn't involved. "I don't see it," he said, referring to the chances of Charlotte getting the plant. "But maybe someone sees something I don't see."