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The Boeing 787 is assembled in the United States, but the aircraft that rolls out of Boeing’s factory in Everett or North Charleston is built from structural components manufactured across nine countries on four continents. 
Boeing distributed more of the 787’s design and production to international suppliers than on any previous commercial aircraft program, creating a global supply chain involving more than 50 major companies that ship completed fuselage sections, wings, and tail components to the US for final assembly.
The countries on this list range from Japan, which supplies approximately 35% of the airframe, to Australia, which produces the trailing edge flaps and rudder. Each country’s role reflects a combination of industrial capability, risk-sharing agreements, and strategic partnerships that Boeing established when the program launched in 2004. Here is what each country builds, where the work is done, and how the components get from the factory floor to the final assembly line.
Japan
Wing boxes, forward fuselage, and center wing box
Japan supplies approximately 35% of the Boeing 787’s airframe structure, making it the largest contributor to the aircraft outside the United States. Three major Japanese heavy industry companies divide the work. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries manufactures the wing boxes, the primary structural component of each wing that carries the aerodynamic loads and houses the fuel tanks. Kawasaki Heavy Industries builds forward fuselage sections 43 and 44, the main landing gear wheel well, and the wing fixed trailing edge. Subaru Corporation, formerly Fuji Heavy Industries, produces the center wing box, the structural component that connects the two wings through the fuselage and carries the aircraft’s primary bending loads.
The Japanese work share on the 787 is not a subcontracting arrangement in the traditional sense. The three companies are risk-sharing partners that funded a portion of the aircraft’s development in exchange for guaranteed production work over the life of the program. That financial structure gave Boeing access to Japanese engineering expertise and manufacturing capacity while reducing its own upfront development costs. The arrangement also reflected a strategic calculation: Japanese airlines including ANA and Japan Airlines were among the 787’s earliest and largest customers, and manufacturing participation in the program reinforced the commercial relationship.
The wing box production at Mitsubishi’s Nagoya facility is the most technically demanding of the Japanese contributions. The 787’s wings are built from carbon fiber reinforced polymer rather than aluminum, and the manufacturing process for a one-piece composite wing box at this scale was new to the industry when production began. Mitsubishi encountered quality issues early in the program, including a manufacturing process change that caused hairline cracks in wing fasteners on approximately 40 aircraft. The wings are shipped from Nagoya to Boeing’s final assembly lines in the United States aboard the Dreamlifter, Boeing’s modified 747-400 cargo aircraft.
Italy
Center fuselage and horizontal stabilizer
Leonardo, formerly Alenia Aeronautica, manufactures the 787’s center fuselage sections and horizontal stabilizer at facilities in Grottaglie and Foggia in southern Italy. The Grottaglie plant produces fuselage sections 44 and 46, the large barrel sections that form the midsection of the aircraft where the wing meets the fuselage and where the majority of the passenger cabin sits. The Foggia facility builds the horizontal stabilizer, the tail surface that controls the aircraft’s pitch attitude in flight.
The fuselage sections are built as one-piece composite barrels using the same carbon fiber reinforced polymer construction that defines the 787’s airframe. Each barrel is manufactured in a single lay-up and cure cycle rather than assembled from multiple panels, which eliminates thousands of fasteners and reduces weight compared to a traditional aluminum fuselage section. Once completed, the barrels are loaded into a specially designed shipping frame and transported by sea from Grottaglie to Boeing’s final assembly facility in North Charleston, South Carolina. The ocean crossing takes approximately two weeks.
Leonardo’s 787 production has not been without problems. In 2023, Boeing identified that an incorrect titanium alloy had been used by Leonardo in fuselage frame and floor beam fittings installed in more than 450 Dreamliners already delivered or in production. The wrong alloy did not present an immediate safety risk but was flagged as a manufacturing nonconformance that could affect long-term structural durability. The issue was one of several supplier quality problems that contributed to extended 787 delivery halts between 2021 and 2023, and it reinforced concerns about Boeing’s ability to maintain quality control across a manufacturing network distributed across multiple countries and companies.
South Korea
Aft fuselage and wingtips
South Korea’s 787 contribution comes from two companies operating out of separate facilities. Korean Air’s Aerospace Division, based in Busan, manufactures the aft fuselage section that forms the tail end of the aircraft, the raked wingtips that extend approximately 17 feet (5.2 m) from each wing and provide the aerodynamic efficiency gains that improve the 787’s fuel burn on long-haul routes, and the flap support fairings mounted under the wings. Korea Aerospace Industries, also based in the Busan-Sacheon region, supplies additional structural components across Boeing’s commercial aircraft programs, including the 787.
Korean Air’s aerospace division is an unusual case in the 787 supply chain because it is owned by an airline rather than a dedicated aerospace manufacturer. Korean Air founded the division in 1976, and it has grown into one of Boeing’s most significant Asian aerostructure partners, earning Boeing’s Supplier of the Year award in 2010 and 2012. The division’s 787 work extends beyond parts supply. Korean Air’s engineers developed an out-of-autoclave curing process for the composite materials used in the aft fuselage sections, a manufacturing technique that reduces production costs by eliminating the need for the large and expensive autoclaves traditionally used to cure carbon fiber components.
The South Korean government actively encouraged domestic aerospace companies to participate in the 787 program as part of a broader industrial strategy to build the country’s commercial aerostructures capability. Korean Air’s aerospace division now supplies components across Boeing’s full product line, including the 737, 747, 777, and 787, as well as Airbus A330 and A380 programs. The 787 program served as a catalyst for scaling Korean aerostructure manufacturing from a niche military supplier into a Tier 1 commercial aviation partner, a transition that took roughly a decade to complete.
United States
Forward fuselage, vertical fin, and final assembly
Boeing retained less of the 787’s structural manufacturing in-house than on any previous commercial aircraft program. The most significant US-based structural contribution outside of Boeing’s own facilities came from Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kansas, which manufactures Section 41, the forward fuselage barrel that contains the cockpit, the forward pressure bulkhead, and the nose landing gear bay. Section 41 is one of the most complex structural components on the aircraft because it integrates the flight deck structure, the forward passenger cabin, and the pressure vessel termination into a single composite assembly. Spirit’s 787 work has been a recurring source of quality issues, including a 2023 delivery halt triggered by an analysis error related to the forward pressure bulkhead that required FAA involvement to resolve.
Boeing acquired Spirit AeroSystems in 2025, bringing Section 41 production back under direct Boeing ownership after two decades of operating as an independent supplier. The acquisition was driven in part by the quality problems that the 787 and 737 programs had experienced with Spirit as an external supplier. Boeing also manufactures the vertical fin at its facility in Frederickson, Washington, and produces the aft fuselage section at its facilities in the Puget Sound region. The tail section and the engine nacelles, built by Boeing supplier Ducommun and the Goodrich Corporation, are also US-produced components.
Final assembly takes place at two Boeing facilities. The original line at Boeing’s Everett factory north of Seattle opened with the program and produced the first 787 deliveries starting in 2011. A second final assembly line in North Charleston, South Carolina began operations in 2012, making the 787 the first Boeing commercial aircraft assembled at two separate US locations simultaneously. Both lines receive completed structural sections from the global supplier network, join them into a complete airframe, install systems and interiors, and conduct flight testing before delivery. The Everett and North Charleston lines each produce approximately five aircraft per month at current rates.
France, UK, Sweden, Canada, And Australia
Engines, landing gear, doors, and trailing edge components
The remaining five countries in the 787 supply chain each contribute specialized components that are essential to the aircraft but smaller in scope than the structural sections produced in Japan, Italy, South Korea, and the United States.
France supplies the landing gear and electrical systems. Safran Landing Systems, formerly Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, manufactures the 787’s main and nose landing gear assemblies at its facilities in Vélizy-Villacoublay and Bidos. Thales provides the electrical power conversion system, which is central to the 787’s design since the aircraft uses electrical power for functions that conventional aircraft handle with pneumatic bleed air from the engines. GS Yuasa, a Japanese company selected by Thales, supplies the lithium-ion batteries that became the subject of a fleet-wide grounding in 2013 after two battery fires in the first months of commercial service.
The United Kingdom’s primary contribution is engines. Rolls-Royce manufactures the Trent 1000 in Derby, one of two engine options available on the 787 alongside GE Aviation’s GEnx-1B. Approximately 35% of the 787 fleet is powered by Trent 1000 engines. Rolls-Royce also supplies the engine nacelle components from its facility in Bristol. In Sweden, Saab Aerostructures produces the cargo and access doors at its Linköping facility. In Canada, Boeing’s Winnipeg operation manufactures the engine nacelle inlets. In Australia, Boeing Aerostructures Australia produces the movable trailing edge flaps and the rudder at its Melbourne facility, components that control the aircraft’s roll and yaw in flight. Between them, these five countries complete the 787’s supply chain, contributing the systems and secondary structures that the four primary structural partners do not cover.
