Jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney cuts 350 jobs, including 25 in Canadian unit

MONTREAL—Jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney said it’s cutting 350 salaried workers around the world, including about 25 employed by its Canadian subsidiary.

Pratt & Whitney said it’s responding to “business and economic conditions.”

The company, based in East Hartford, Conn., said the cuts are necessary to remain competitive and that about 200 of the jobs being cut are based in Connecticut.

Pratt & Whitney Canada said an estimated 15 or 16 of its employees affected by the job cuts are based at its plants in Longueuil or St. Hubert, Que.

The remaining nine or 10 employees work at facilities around the world.

Spokeswoman Annick Lambert said about half of those affected with the Canadian subsidiary are leaving the company voluntarily, which lessens the pressure to lay off office workers.

“The economic situation is still flat, so knowing that we need to be careful and assess the situation year after year,” she said in an interview.

Pratt & Whitney Canada announced last March the layoff of 100 salaried workers around the world, including 40 in Quebec, 10 at operations in Halifax, Mississauga and Alberta, and 50 overseas.

In the end, Lambert said only 14 employees in Quebec were forced out because 26 left voluntarily.

The U.S. parent company announced in December it will lay off 80 hourly employees and eliminate 20 other jobs through buyouts.

The company employs about 36,000 workers worldwide.

Pratt & Whitney Canada employs 9,200 worldwide, including 6,200 in Canada, of which 5,000 are based in Quebec.

David Hess, president of the U.S. company, said in May that sales are expected to double, to $24-billion, by the end of the decade.

But he said Pratt & Whitney must navigate a few transitional years of high fuel costs and a weak economic recovery that are pressuring airline customers.

Pratt & Whitney Canada announced last October the signing of a number of engine contracts, including a 10-year agreement with Viking Air Ltd. to supply PT6 engines for its Twin Otter aircraft.

Other deals announced at an aerospace conference in Florida will see it provide engines to power Dassault’s new Falcon 2000S business jet, Cessna’s new Citation Sovereign and Sikorsky Aircraft’s S-76D medium-sized helicopter.

U.S.-based Pratt & Whitney will produce the engine that will power Bombardier’s CSeries aircraft.

It was also recently selected by Brazil’s Embraer to retrofit its E-Jets.

Pratt & Whitney is a unit of United Technologies Corp., a diversified company that includes Otis Elevator, Sikorsky helicopter, Carrier heating and cooling and other aerospace and building system businesses.

—With files from The Associated Press