Sikorsky Aircraft has announced plans to close its helicopter manufacturing plant in suburban Philadelphia.
According to a Philadelphia Inquirer report, the facility at Sadsbury Township, Pennsylvania, was originally scheduled to close in 2019 due to diminishing orders from its main customers in the oil and gas industry. However, then-President Donald Trump and local elected officials successfully pressured the company to maintain the plant, which began doing work on the Marine One helicopters that carry the president.
The Stratford-headquartered company however said it was unable to secure enough work for the facility under the Biden administration to keep the plant operational.
Approximately 360 people are employed at the plant, and the company said 120 members of that workforce are being offered the opportunity to either work remotely or relocate to Sikorsky”™s other manufacturing sites in Pennsylvania.
Sikorsky acquired the 24-acre property in 2005 with its acquisition of Keystone Helicopter Corp., and a state grant in 2014 helped finance the facility”™s expansion. A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky”™s parent company, said the plant closing was “due to a downturn in the commercial helicopter sector.”
