GE Aviation will build its new headquarters for the development, testing and production of turbo-propeller engines in the Czech Republic, the US aircraft engine supplier announced late on January 18.

The facility, due to open in 2020, will employ 500 people. GE Aviation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Czech government regarding the project. The value of the investment was not announced but according to reports will total $400mn.

“GE’s considerable investment is evidence that the Czech Republic is an attractive place for foreign investors,” Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said after signing the agreement. “If we realise this investment opportunity it will create more than 500 new jobs in the coming years, and this would represent a 125% increase in the number of GE employees in our country.”  

The aviation wing of US giant GE employs more than 12,000 in 22 facilities across Europe. The new Czech centre will design, test and manufacture an advanced turboprop engine (ATP) that will power Textron Aviation’s new single-engine turboprop (SETP) aircraft, GE Aviation said in a statement.

In 2008, GE Aviation acquired assets of Walter Engines, a Czech company with over 90 years of aviation heritage, and formed GE Aviation Czech. GE Aviation Czech specialises in the design, production and service of turboprop engines at its integrated research and development and manufacturing facility in Prague’s Letnany district.