East Hartford jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney announced it will invest $650 million over the next seven years in a turbine airfoil production facility in North Carolina.
The 1 million-square-foot facility will house advanced equipment used for the production of turbine airfoils — part of a jet engine’s turbine blade — as well as machining and other functions, according to Pratt.
“This investment will enable Pratt & Whitney to continue to modernize and transform its operations with cutting-edge technologies,” Pratt President Chris Calio said. “Turbine airfoils are a critical component across our engine portfolio and demand will increase significantly.”
Investment into the Asheville, N.C. facility between now and 2027 is expected to create 800 jobs during that time period, according to Pratt. Employees at the facility will use the latest technologies used in the manufacturing industry.
Announcement of the investment comes a couple weeks after the company said it will lay off 454 Connecticut employees — including 381 at the manufacturer’s hub in East Hartford — amid a business environment stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between its main campus and a plant in Middletown, Pratt & Whitney has about 13,000 workers in Connecticut.
News of Pratt’s planned layoffs comes a month after its parent company, Massachusetts-based Raytheon Technologies Corp., announced it will lay off 15,000 employees in its commercial aerospace and corporate divisions, as the multinational defense and commercial aerospace conglomerate seeks $2 billion in cost savings.
Raytheon on Tuesday posted $264 million in third-quarter profits, marking a 77% decrease over the same quarter a year ago. However, it was an improvement over the $3.8 billion loss the Massachusetts-based multinational conglomerate reported in its second quarter this year.
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