GE Aerospace will expand its Prestwick engine overhaul site, with £27m of public money alongside its own £30m

GE Aerospace will spend £30 million expanding and modernising its engine maintenance, repair and overhaul site at Prestwick in South Ayrshire, the company said on Monday 12 October. The Ayrshire Growth Deal is adding £27 million of public money, and Scottish Enterprise plans a further £6 million. GE says the project will help it hire about 150 people at the site over the next five years.

The main piece of work is a new 55,000 sq ft building. Alongside it, GE is changing the site layout, logistics and access, and the way engines and parts move through the shop. The company says the project is on an accelerated schedule, with full operations targeted for the first quarter of 2028. It says the plan came out of more than two years of analysis with the Growth Deal and local partners.

What the Prestwick shop does

The site, known as GE Caledonian, sits next to Glasgow Prestwick Airport. GE says it services several engine types, most recently the GEnx, which powers the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the 747-8. Its larger UK sister shop at Nantgarw in Wales handles the GE90 and the CFM56.

A Scottish Government economic impact assessment of the airport, published in December 2025, gives a sense of scale. It put GE Caledonian at 780 full-time equivalent staff in 2023, with around 50 apprentices on a four-year programme, and said the site takes on about 200 engine maintenance projects a year. In interviews for that report in spring 2024, the company said it planned to add 50 to 100 staff and to increase the number of shop visits at Prestwick. Monday's plan puts the hiring figure higher, at about 150.

Who is paying

GE's own share is £30 million. The £27 million from the Ayrshire Growth Deal breaks down as £18 million from the UK government, £8 million from the Scottish government and £1 million from South Ayrshire Council, according to GE. That money goes on site development, enabling works and fit-out.

GE describes its own money and the Growth Deal money together as a planned £57 million investment. The Scottish Enterprise £6 million is listed separately, and GE does not say what it will pay for. Counted in, the total is £63 million, which is the figure local press in Ayrshire used.

On either count, public bodies are putting up close to half of the money for an expansion at a site owned by a US engine maker: about 47% of the £57 million, or a little over half of £63 million. Melanie Ward, the UK government's Scotland minister, said the UK government is investing £32 million in total in the Prestwick aerospace cluster through the Growth Deal.

GE has also given £75,000 to Ayrshire College for training equipment and a course that prepares students for aerospace careers. It says the donation will support about 150 apprentices and full-time students.

Where it sits in GE's wider shop spending

In July 2024, GE Aerospace committed $1 billion over five years across its 19 maintenance, repair, overhaul and component repair sites. It said the money was meant to let it handle more shop visits on its widebody and narrowbody fleets and to cut turnaround times, with a large share going to sites that service the CFM LEAP narrowbody engine. GE has not said whether the Prestwick money counts towards that programme.

In the UK, GE says it employs 4,100 people and has invested more than £7 million in manufacturing and £19 million in maintenance and overhaul in 2026. In 2025 it announced £14.2 million over three years for infrastructure at its Wales site, the BBC reported.

For airlines and lessors with GEnx-powered 787s and 747-8s, the date is the practical detail. The new building is not due at full operation until the first quarter of 2028.

The people problem

Hiring 150 people will draw on a local pool that is already stretched. The same Scottish Government report said most of the firms in the Prestwick cluster reported a skills gap in aerospace engineering roles. Storm Aviation, an aircraft component company at the airport, said it had brought in 12 engineers from the Philippines on 12-month contracts to cover the shortage.

The report counted 2,493 full-time equivalent staff across five aerospace employers in the wider cluster in 2023, including Spirit, Collins Aerospace, BAE Systems and Woodward as well as GE Caledonian. GE's new roles will be recruited against all of them. GE Caledonian said in 2024 that it wanted more shop visits at the site. It now has the building, the public money and a 2028 date, and the deciding factor is whether it can find the technicians to staff it.

Sources: GE Aerospace, "GE Aerospace announces £30 million investment as part of a £57 million partnership with the Ayrshire Growth Deal", 12 October 2026; Scottish Enterprise, same announcement, 12 October 2026; BBC News, "Firm announces £57m boost for Prestwick aircraft repair facility", 12 October 2026; GE Aerospace, Facilities in Europe page, accessed 13 October 2026; Scottish Government, Glasgow Prestwick Airport: economic impact assessment, 16 December 2025; GE Aerospace, "GE Aerospace commits $1 billion to its MRO network", 20 August 2024; Ayrshire Daily News, 12 October 2026.

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