LONGUEUIL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Sept. 30, 2009) - Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) will reduce its global workforce by approximately 250 employees by year's end to align with a projected decline in customer demand and weakness in the global aerospace market with no signs of a recovery in 2010. P&WC is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.
The company will also close its facility on Auvergne Street in Longueuil, Quebec, by the end of 2010. The plant's activities will be transferred to other P&WC facilities on Montreal's South Shore. This closure will result in an additional workforce reduction of 160 employees across P&WC's Quebec operations, starting in early 2010.
"These are difficult times. We need to make strategic decisions and structural changes to remain competitive and preserve our future in the face of continuing economic headwinds," said John Saabas, president, P&WC. "We are sensitive to the personal impact on employees who will be affected, and we will do everything we can to ease their transition."
P&WC will consolidate its activities into three key strategic manufacturing and aftermarket facilities in Quebec. These include its headquarters, manufacturing, and research & development facility in Longueuil; its service centre in St. Hubert; and its Mirabel Aerospace Centre, the future home of Pratt & Whitney's global flight test operations and final assembly and test of PW1524G engines for the Bombardier CSeries and the PW800 engine family.
"We remain committed to our activities in Quebec and Canada," said Saabas. When P&WC completes the Mirabel facility in 2010, it will have 1.1 million square feet of manufacturing space in Quebec, approximately 10 percent more than today.
P&WC will continue to invest in new technologies to be ready for the next generation of business jets, regional aircraft and helicopters and to emerge stronger from this economic downturn.
Pratt & Whitney Canada, based in Longueuil, Quebec, is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines powering business, general aviation and regional aircraft and helicopters. The company also offers auxiliary power units and industrial gas turbines. P&WC employs over 9,000 employees worldwide. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and building industries.
