Pratt & Whitney’s $1 Billion Contract Brings Nine Years of Military Engine Work to Bridgeport
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — A $1 billion military aircraft engine contract will bring nine years of overhaul work to Pratt & Whitney Canada’s Bridgeport operation, providing another major long-term boost for Harrison County’s growing aerospace industry.
Pratt & Whitney Canada will overhaul more than 750 PT6A-68 engines used to power the U.S. military’s T-6 trainer aircraft under the contract awarded by V2X Inc. The work will be performed at the company’s facility at North Central West Virginia Airport.
RTX initially announced the agreement in July, but new details released Sunday provide a clearer picture of just how significant the contract will be for Bridgeport.
Pratt & Whitney Canada Senior Director Anthony Hinton said the nine-year, $1 billion agreement is the largest contract the company has ever received.
The Harrison County workforce is expected to play a central role.
The facility employs approximately 500 people and has maintained, repaired and overhauled PT6A-68 engines for decades.
Many of the engines that will now return to Bridgeport also have a local history.
“Most of these engines were actually built in the Bridgeport facility in the late 1990s or early 2000s when we had the production contract,” Hinton said during an appearance on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
The engines power the T-6 Texan II, an aircraft used to introduce U.S. military pilots to flight training before they advance to more specialized aircraft.
Under the new agreement, engines will generally be removed from aircraft at military installations and shipped to Bridgeport. Employees will disassemble the engines, inspect components, complete necessary repairs and rebuild them before they are returned to service.
Major overhauls are generally required after approximately five years or 4,500 flight hours, according to Hinton.
The contract arrives as several pieces of the aviation industry surrounding North Central West Virginia Airport continue to expand.
Pierpont Community & Technical College recently received final state approval for a $23 million aviation maintenance training center at the airport, a project expected to expand the number of students preparing for careers in aircraft maintenance and help strengthen the local workforce pipeline.
North Central West Virginia Airport’s new approximately $70 million passenger terminal also opens for regular commercial service Tuesday, adding another major investment to a campus that has become one of the region’s key economic development centers.
For Pratt & Whitney, however, the latest contract reinforces an operation that has been part of Harrison County for generations.
The Bridgeport facility has supported the PT6 engine family for more than 40 years, and company officials have credited the experience and skill of the Harrison County workforce as an important factor in securing the newest agreement.
The headline number is $1 billion.
But for Harrison County, the larger significance is what comes with it: nine years of military engine work, hundreds of skilled jobs and another major vote of confidence in the aerospace workforce that has been built around North Central West Virginia Airport.
