Dreamliner Completes Inaugural Flight

The long-awaited Boeing 787 Dreamliner, partially made in North Charleston, delivered its first passengers today, a four-hour flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong, according to the Associated Press.

The new long-haul jet aims to change with the way passengers think about flying with larger windows, improved lighting and air pressure and humidity that closer resembles that on the ground.

"It's silly, but it's a little piece of history. New cars come out all the time but how often do new planes come out?" said Stephanie Wood. She and her husband Dean, of Davie, Fla., won a charity auction, paying nearly $18,700 for two business-class seats. Another passenger paid $32,000, the Associated Press reported.

Boeing announced plans to build its 1.2 million-square-foot North Charleston assembly plant in 2009. South Carolina recruited the airplane giant with a multi-year tax-break package estimated to be worth between $450 million and $900 million. Roughly 500 employees in the North Charleston plant constructed the aft and mid section of the 787 Dreamliner.