GE Aviation to build $100 million jet engine assembly factory in Indiana

GE Aviation has announced plans to build a $100 million jet engine assembly facility in Lafayette, Ind. It is the seventh new GE Aviation facility in the U.S. in the past seven years.

The 225,000-sq.-ft. plant will assemble the new LEAP engine of CFM Intl., a 50/50 joint company of GE and Snecma (Safran) of France. It will power new Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737 MAX, and COMAC (China) C919 aircraft for airlines worldwide.

As the engine transitions to the production phase, the company could begin hiring at the new facility as early as 2015. Within five years the plant’s workforce is expected to exceed 200 people, with the capacity to do final assembly for the engine as well as the engine’s hot section.