East Hartford jet-engine maker Pratt & Whitney is deepening its southern footprint.
The company announced Tuesday that it will invest $206 million to expand the capabilities and footprint of its Columbus, Georgia business, which supports commercial and military engine programs.
The investment is expected to create around 400 new jobs by the end of 2028, and will go toward the purchase of new machinery, equipment and an 81,000-square-foot expansion of its Columbus Engine Center, the company announced.
The footprint expansion will also increase overhaul capacity to 400 geared turbofan engines per year, the company said.
Pratt & Whitney is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, which was created in 2020, following the merger of Massachusetts-based Raytheon Corp. and Farmington-based United Technologies Corp. (UTC).
The combined company last year relocated its headquarters from Massachusetts to Virginia.
In announcing its Georgia expansion on Tuesday, Raytheon provided a photo of CEO Gregory Hayes, the former UTC CFO, shaking hands with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
Pratt & Whitney President Shane Eddy said the company “has been doing business in Georgia for nearly 40 years and in that time, our Columbus business has grown from a small manufacturing facility to a large, state-of-the-art manufacturing and overhaul center, where we employ approximately 2,000 employees. We remain committed to supporting manufacturing jobs in Georgia and see an incredible opportunity to expand our workforce and our company’s capabilities in Columbus, aligned with our Industry 4.0 strategy.”
