When most people think of Asheville, North Carolina, they think of the famous Biltmore Estate—America’s largest private home turned tourist attraction. But this scenic city in the Blue Ridge Mountains is also a growing aviation manufacturing center. In 2014, GE Aviation (now GE Aerospace) opened a 170,000-square-foot plant there, next to its existing rotating parts facility. The new plant makes jet engine components out of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials, a lighter, and thus more fuel-efficient alternative to using metal alloys. The facility is the first in the world to mass produce CMC jet engine components, according to GE Aerospace. Aircraft engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney will join GE in Asheville at the end of 2022, when its new 1.2 million square-foot facility is complete.
The Lay of the Land
Asheville is located in the center of North Carolina’s mountain region at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers in the southern Appalachian mountains. Given its elevation (2,200 feet) and location, it’s a great place to visit year-round to experience all four seasons. Summers are warm and humid with July reaching average highs of 84 degrees Fahrenheit. January, being the coldest month of the year, has average lows of 27 degrees F and average highs of 44 degrees F.
