TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US aluminium producer and speciality product manufacturer Alcoa this week announced that it broke ground on its state-of-the-art, $100-million aerospace expansion in La Porte, Indiana where it will produce nickel-based superalloy jet engine parts.

The new 29 700 m² facility would expand Alcoa’s reach from structural engine components for business and regional jets to large commercial aircraft, including narrow- and wide-body and military airplanes. Engines for narrow-body aircraft are among the top selling jet engines in the world, the company said on Thursday.

“Aerospace growth is soaring and Alcoa is ramping up our downstream capabilities to capture that demand,” Alcoa chairperson and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said.

The plant will increase the company’s capacity to supply engines for narrow-body aircraft. It will also enable Alcoa to produce parts nearly 60% larger than components it currently makes, expanding its market reach to wide-body airplanes. These components are used in the compression and hot sections of the engine. Alcoa is already a significant global manufacturer of jet engine airfoils.

The plant is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2015.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation had offered Alcoa up to $4-million in conditional tax credits based on the company’s plans to create 329 jobs by 2019. The city of La Porte had also approved tax incentives worth $7.1-million over a ten-year period.

This is the second significant aerospace investment by Alcoa in Indiana in two years. In 2012, Alcoa announced construction of a $90-million greenfield state-of-the-art aluminium lithium facility at its Lafayette operations.

The facility is on schedule to open later this year and will be capable of producing upwards of 20 000 metric tons of Alcoa’s patented aluminium-lithium alloys used to build dramatically lighter and lower-cost airplanes when compared with composite alternatives.