Facing criticism from President Trump and from Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, Lockheed Martin has temporarily reversed its decision announced last month to close its Sikorsky assembly plant in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, where 465 are employed building S-76 and S-92 civil helicopters.

In a statement released via Twitter, Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson said she decided to keep Coatesville open “while we pursue additional work” and that the company looks “forward to working with the government and the PA congressional delegation to find more work for this facility.”

Both the Sikorsky S-76D and the S-92A have sold poorly in recent years in the wake of a contracting offshore energy industry, and used models of both are for sale in plentiful supply following the bankruptcy filings of two leading offshore helicopter operators this year, PHI and Bristow Group, and helicopter lessor Waypoint late last year.   

Sikorsky did not deliver any of either model in the first quarter of this year and only five during all of 2018 (one S-76D and four S-92As), and had combined civil helicopter deliveries from Coatesville of seven for all of 2017, and 12 in 2016, according to figures released by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.