While aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney plans a major new office in East Hartford, it’s also continuing to grow its investment in Florida.
On Wednesday, the East Hartford-based defense contractor announced it will invest $20 million to expand a key plant in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The expansion will allow Pratt & Whitney to increase the capacity of its West Palm Beach Engine Center, a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for its GTF engine, by 40% by the second half of 2025.
The news comes as Pratt & Whitney seeks local zoning approvals to build a new, 313,000-square-foot office building on its East Hartford campus.
The new building is part of a longer-term renovation to its headquarters.
In Florida, the company said, it will increase its workforce by 25% over the next year and will add new equipment to support the capacity increase.
“The expansion at West Palm Beach is the latest example of our global investment to support the GTF fleet,” said Kevin Kirkpatrick, vice president of Global Aftermarket Operations at Pratt & Whitney. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to support customers and maintain their trust as we carry out the GTF fleet management plan.”
Pratt & Whitney is a subsidiary of RTX Corp., based in Arlington, Virginia. It has more than 185,000 employees across the world and had sales of $69 billion in 2023.
RTX was formerly known as Raytheon Technologies Corp., which formed in 2020 following the $135 billion merger of Farmington-based United Technologies Corp. and defense contractor Raytheon Co., which was based in Massachusetts at the time.
The new company initially formed its headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, but relocated to Arlington in 2022.