⁍ Boeing will move the rest of its 787 Dreamliner production to South Carolina in 2021, a cost-cutting strategy that raises questions over the future of its giant Everett plant north of Seattle.

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⁍ As recently as last year, Boeing was making record numbers of 787s at its Everett widebody hub north of Seattle.

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⁍ South Carolina offers cheaper labor, and the largest 787-10 variant cannot easily be built elsewhere due to its size.

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– Boeing’s decision to move the rest of its 787 Dreamliner production to South Carolina has union leaders in Washington state scrambling to figure out what the future holds for the huge plant north of Seattle, the Seattle Times reports. The company announced Thursday that it will move production of the aircraft from Everett, Wash., to North Charleston, SC, starting in 2021. The move is part of a plan to cut costs by $5 billion over the next decade, and union leaders say the South Carolina move is part of a “stealth attack” on the Everett plant by Boeing’s rival Airbus. “This is a shortsighted and misplaced decision,” US Rep. Rick Larsen, chair of the House aviation subcommittee, said in a statement, per Reuters. “I will do everything in my power to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Boeing says it will keep 787 production at Everett until a rate cut is in place to six airplanes a month in 2021. But Larsen and other lawmakers fear the move to South Carolina could jeopardize the future of the Everett plant, which once employed 3,000 people and churned out more than 1,000 planes a month, the Times reports. Boeing says the South Carolina move is part of a plan to improve operational efficiency and position the company for recovery from a slump in international travel caused by a coronavirus, per Reuters.