BIG FLATS, N.Y. (AP) - Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. says it will close its plant in upstate New York where it employs 570 workers who customize military helicopters sold to foreign governments.
The Star-Gazette of Elmira reports that the Stratford, Conn.-based subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. announced Monday afternoon that cuts in the federal defense budget played a role in the decision to close the company's military completions center in Big Flats, outside Elmira.
The plant will close at the end of the year. Nearly 400 of its workers were laid off last year. At its peak, the factory employed 1,300.
Sikorsky bought the plant from Schweizer Aircraft Corp. in 2004. Three years later, the company opened a new $15 million, 100,000-square-foot facility near the Elmira Corning Regional Airport.
