Pratt Whitney Aircraft

Pratt & Whitney Aircraft said Wednesday that it is eliminating more than 1,000 white-collar jobs in a move that will eventually save $100 million a year and enhance its competitive position in the jet engine market. The company said 283 employees, ranging from engineers and purchasing agents to vice presidents, would be laid off during the next 18 months, including 158 who were let go immediately.

NASA has taken the next small step toward reshaping its future in space travel by awarding five contracts worth as much as $250 million to aerospace companies for researching and developing propulsion systems. Although NASA hasn't laid out how it will use such technology, officials from the contract winners -- three of which are based in California -- say they envision their work being used on a broad range of missions: sending research equipment deep into space; building thrust engines for robotic Mars landers; or developing boosters for spacecraft to explore far-flung asteroids.

Pratt & Whitney Aircraft announced today it is eliminating more than 1,000 white-collar jobs in the first of three rounds of job reductions to save $100 million a year and enhance its competitive position in the jet engine market. The company said 283 people will be laid off. The rest of the jobs are to be eliminated through attrition. The second and third rounds of job cuts among the company's 46,000 workers are to be announced next month.

Sixty-one survivors of Pratt & Whitney employees who died of brain cancer lost their fight to sue the jet engine maker Tuesday when the state Supreme Court ruled against them. But the battle continues on two fronts, with other cancer survivors pressing an ongoing lawsuit blaming the deaths on hazardous conditions at Pratt & Whitney plants, and with calls for changes in state law governing wrongful-death suits.

Union machinists voted Sunday to accept a three-year contract and end a 13-day walkout by about 5,000 workers at three Pratt & Whitney Aircraft jet engine plants in Connecticut. The workers voted 4,785 to 604 for the contract that union and company negotiators had agreed to Friday, and began returning to work at midnight, said George Almeida, a union representative.

Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, a division of United Technologies Corp., said Wednesday that it plans to cut 1,500 to 2,000 salaried jobs over the next year to help combat increased competition. The reduction of something less than 10% of its 24,000 salaried workers worldwide is "probably the largest" in the history of the jet engine maker, spokesman Curtis Linke said.

NASA has taken the next small step toward reshaping its future in space travel by awarding five contracts worth as much as $250 million to aerospace companies for researching and developing propulsion systems. Although NASA hasn't laid out how it will use such technology, officials from the contract winners -- three of which are based in California -- say they envision their work being used on a broad range of missions: sending research equipment deep into space; building thrust engines for robotic Mars landers; or developing boosters for spacecraft to explore far-flung asteroids.

U.S. jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney on Monday launched a $22-million joint venture with a Chinese firm to produce parts for commercial engines. The founding of Chengdu Aerotech Manufacturing Co. marks the first time a foreign firm has taken a controlling interest in a venture involving China's strategic aviation industry, executives said. Pratt & Whitney, a Hartford, Conn.-based unit of United Technologies Corp., holds 52% of the equity and Chengdu Engine Co.

Computer Sciences Corp. won a $1.2-billion 10-year contract to manage computer and manufacturing systems for United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney jet engine unit. About 650 Pratt & Whitney employees at the engine maker's headquarters in East Hartford, Conn., and a plant in West Palm Beach, Fla., will transfer to Computer Sciences under the agreement.

GE, Pratt & Whitney to Work on New Engine: The vigorous rivals in the aircraft engine business would not say how much money they will contribute to develop the engine for Boeing Co.'s proposed 747-500X/600X jetliner. Typically, it costs $1 billion to $1.5 billion to design and produce an engine, as opposed to modifying an existing one. The 50-50 venture will allow General Electric Corp. unit GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney, the East Hartford, Conn.-based unit of United Technologies Corp.

Thousands of machinists at jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney on Sunday rejected a contract offer of a 10% pay raise over three years and voted to go on strike. The walkout, set to begin early this morning, would be the first at Pratt since 1985. "We're prepared to continue this process, whatever it takes to come up with a satisfactory contract," said James M. Parent, a spokesman for the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 91, which represents 5,100 employees.

Jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney is eliminating 1,700 additional jobs, the vast majority of them at its Connecticut-based manufacturing plants. The cuts are in addition to the nearly 3,500 jobs the company has been in the process of eliminating since it started a major restructuring and consolidation effort in 1998. A Pratt spokesman cited a dramatic drop-off in demand for jet engines over the last three years as the major reason for the downsizing.

Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp., said it will cut at least 1,500 jobs, or 5% of its work force, and move its military jet engine business from Florida to its East Hartford, Conn., home base in a broad restructuring to be completed by the end of 2000. In addition, the Sikorsky helicopter unit of United Technologies said it will move its S-76 helicopter operation from West Palm Beach, Fla., to an undecided location as part of a restructuring.

Computer Sciences Corp. won a $1.2-billion 10-year contract to manage computer and manufacturing systems for United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney jet engine unit. About 650 Pratt & Whitney employees at the engine maker's headquarters in East Hartford, Conn., and a plant in West Palm Beach, Fla., will transfer to Computer Sciences under the agreement.

An investigation into a rash of crashes at the nation's largest F-16 base has led to the discovery of engine cracks in 17 of the jet fighters, the Air Force said Friday. Cracks up to an inch long were found in the jets' Pratt & Whitney 220 engines, Luke Air Force Base spokeswoman Mary Jo May said. About 75% of the jets have been inspected so far at Luke, which has 190 of the nation's roughly 400 F-16s. "If we find cracks, those engines will not be flown anymore.

Computer Sciences Corp. is negotiating a contract to take over Pratt & Whitney's information technology functions in a deal that could be worth as much as $1 billion over several years, the companies said. The aircraft engine maker expects to work out a deal with El Segundo-based Computer Sciences in the next couple of months, said Pratt & Whitney spokesman Mark Sullivan. The East Hartford, Conn.

United Technologies Corp., citing a further slowdown in jet engine sales, said Friday its Pratt & Whitney unit will cut an additional 4,800 jobs, bringing the division's total layoffs to 7,200 by mid-1993. In January, United Technologies, which builds everything from Otis elevators to Carrier air conditioners, said it was laying off 2,400 Pratt & Whitney workers as part of a companywide restructuring costing $1.28 billion.

Aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney said it will cut about 2,000 jobs, or 6% of its global work force, by mid-2000 in a bid to boost profit and absorb a decline in production. The unit of Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies Corp. said 1,000 of the cuts will be made in Connecticut, where it employs 13,000 people, and the other 1,000 will be made in Florida, where it employs about 5,000.

International Lease Finance Corp., a Los Angeles-based aircraft leasing company, has ordered new engines worth $1.74 billion from General Electric Co., Pratt & Whitney and two international joint ventures. ILFC placed a $500-million order with CFM International, a 50-50 joint company between Snecma of France and General Electric Finance Corp., for about 90 CFM56 engines, a GE spokesman said. The engines are for 10 Airbus Industrie aircraft and 31 Boeing next-generation 737s.