4/17/2008 - LONGUEUIL, Quebec – Pratt & Whitney Canada announced today that it will concentrate its flight test operations in a new world-class centre at Montreal-Mirabel International Airport. The new global hub represents an investment of about $90 million. Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) is a United Technologies Corp. company.

“Establishing this single, state-of-the-art facility will improve our competitiveness and support flight testing for the complete range of Pratt & Whitney engines, from turboprops to turbofans up to 90,000 pounds of thrust,” said Benoît Brossoit, Senior Vice President, Service Centres & Operations, P&WC. “We have recently won several competitions to supply engines for new aircraft, and we need to evolve our flight test operations to support this growth.”

Flight test operations positions currently located in Plattsburgh, New York, and Saint-Hubert, Quebec will be transferred to Mirabel. This will create more than 75 highly skilled jobs at the new facility, including test engineers and specialized technicians. An additional 100 indirect jobs are also expected to be created for the construction of the new facility and the maintenance of aircraft.

P&WC’s new Mirabel flight test centre will require the temporary use of an existing facility, starting in the fall of 2008, while the construction of a new 164,000-square-foot facility is completed. This new facility will feature two bays for the company’s test aircraft, allowing for the testing of a full range of development engines.

P&WC will operate two Boeing B747SP test aircraft by the time the new flight test facility in Mirabel is completed in the spring of 2009. These aircraft are currently being upgraded and modified with the necessary test equipment.

Montreal-Mirabel International Airport, a 24/7 all-cargo airport, is located in a non-urban area and has a runway capable of handling very large aircraft such as the Boeing 747. “Mirabel gives us access to efficient world-class infrastructures to meet our growing flight test needs for years to come, and is also close to a critical mass of major aerospace companies,” said Brossoit.

P&WC’s corporate shuttle service will continue to operate out of St-Hubert Airport, where it is enjoying a steady increase in employee passenger volume. The company’s St-Hubert plant has also recently been expanded with the opening of a new assembly line for PT6T Twin-Pac® helicopter engines. It is one of the company’s major engine overhaul and repair centres, concentrating on PW100 and PT6 engine families, and employs about 800 people.

Source: Pratt & Whitney Press Release