Pratt & Whitney’s GTF Advantage engine was unveiled in 2021. The company has opened a new $78 million MRO facility in Irving. [Photo: Pratt & Whitney]

Pratt & Whitney, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, has announced the opening of a new $78 million facility in the Dallas suburb of Irving for its Commercial Serviceable Assets business—which buys, sells, and manages used serviceable material (USM) and airline engines.

The facility is one of three new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sites that Pratt & Whitney is investing over $100 million into across the U.S. The other investments include $20 million in the company’s expanded West Palm Beach Engine Center in Florida and $4.7 million in the company’s expanded Propulsion Systems Division in Springdale, Arkansas.

As part of Pratt & Whitney’s ongoing efforts to ramp maintenance capacity for its GTF aircraft engine, Pratt & Whitney said it’s expanding the facilities and adding new equipment “to enhance speed and efficiency throughout the MRO process.”

The company’s GTF (geared turbofan) engine is a highly efficient aircraft engine designed for narrow-body jets, RTX said, offering up to 20% better fuel savings and lower emissions per trip. The engine uses a unique reduction gear system with the fan spinning slower than the turbine—reducing noise by 75% as it powers Airbus A320neo, A220, and Embraer E2 jets.

Irving facility aims to reduce engine turnaround time

The new facility in Irving spans half a million square feet, Pratt & Whitney said, adding, “At a time when material constraints are one of the main drivers of delays in the MRO process, the investment will increase USM stock by more than 60%, helping to reduce engine turnaround time.”

The company said the Irving facility also enables the expansion of part repair development capability and “MRO quick-turn capacity.”

In addition to these new investments, Pratt & Whitney said it opened an 81,000-square-foot GTF MRO expansion at its Columbus Engine Center in Columbus, Georgia, earlier this year. The company invested $70 million in Columbus to expand the site and add advanced equipment and machinery. 

In all, Pratt & Whitney’s GTF MRO network consists of 21 global engine centers and around 40 component repair facilities. To date, more than 2,700 GTF-powered aircraft have been delivered to over 90 customers worldwide, with 13,000 engine orders and commitments in total across all platforms, the company said.

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