(Tribune News Service) — An aircraft and helicopter engine manufacturer is taking its Georgia operations to new heights.

On Tuesday, at the 2023 Paris Air Show in France, Pratt & Whitney officials announced a $206 million expansion to the Connecticut-based company’s Columbus, Ga., campus, promising an additional 400 jobs. Since the mid-1980s, Pratt & Whitney has made Georgia’s second-largest city, which hugs the Alabama border, its home base for manufacturing critical components for its military and commercial engines.

Among Pratt & Whitney’s major aerospace customers is Airbus, a supplier of passenger jets for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and carriers around the world.

The expansion is not uncharted skies for Georgia, which boasts one of the largest aerospace industries in the country. Gov. Brian Kemp, who attended the Paris Air Show where multiple Georgia-related announcements were made, touted Pratt & Whitney’s new investment in a news release as a sign that the state’s sky-high business ambitions are being rewarded.

“From the flights that go through the world’s most utilized airport to the engines in the very airplanes, the Peach State is crucial to the movement of goods and products,” Kemp said. “Pratt & Whitney’s decision to expand will only further that reputation.”

Georgia is home to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, and more than 800 aerospace facilities, including several operated by Lockheed Martin and private jet-maker Gulfstream. Last year, Georgia factories shipped $9.2 billion of aerospace products across the globe, making the Peach State the fifth-largest exporter in the U.S., according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Pratt & Whitney has an existing employee base of roughly 2,000 in Columbus, where workers maintain hundreds of engines and produce compressor airfoils — the metal blades seen whirring in a jet turbine that produce thrust. The expansion is expected to be completed by 2028 and will include 81,000 square feet of new engine maintenance space and new machinery, which will allow the company to annually overhaul 400 Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines.

“Our Columbus business has grown from a small manufacturing facility to a large, state-of-the-art manufacturing and overhaul center,” Pratt & Whitney President Shane Eddy said in the release. “This investment will help ensure that we have the infrastructure, machinery and equipment upgrades in place to provide the best products and services to our customers worldwide.”

Pratt & Whitney will likely qualify for job creation tax credits and worker training through Georgia Quick Start, and a Georgia Department of Economic Development spokesperson said negotiations involving discretionary incentives, such as grants, remain active.

The expansion comes on the heels of a new engine repair shop by Delta TechOps, which services Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engines. The 155,000-square-foot facility houses more than 100 mechanics, who repair engines used across about 150 airlines.

Officials for Archer Aviation, an electric aircraft developer, also announced Tuesday in Paris that progress is being made on the California-based company’s forthcoming 100-acre campus in Covington, east of Atlanta, where it plans to build its first mass production facility for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for taxi service. The factory, which is a partnership with European auto brand Stallantis, is on track to open in mid-2024.

“High-volume manufacturing is critical to ensuring we can meet this goal and joining forces with one of the leading mobility companies in the world is helping us realize the once-in-a-generation opportunity we have to redefine urban transportation,” Archer founder and CEO Adam Goldstein said in a news release.

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