In 2020, when aerospace giant Pratt & Whitney announced plans to locate a colossal turbine airfoil manufacturing plant in southern Buncombe County, all the numbers associated with the project were huge.
Its parent company, Raytheon Technologies (now RTX), said it would invest at least $650 million in a plant that would sit on 100 acres and encompass 1 million square feet. It would create 800 new jobs by 2027, with a target annual average wage of $62,413.
Now, six years later, the company has exceeded all of those numbers…