After four years of disputes and delays, Blade Technology in Nahariya has announced it will shut down, laying off hundreds of workers. The plant, which makes turbine blades for jet engines and employs about 900 people, will see 600 workers dismissed or offered early retirement, while 300 are expected to move to a similar Pratt & Whitney facility in the Tefen area.
The closure is tied in part to the sharp fall in the dollar, which has hit Israel's export sector broadly. The U.S. currency has dropped from about 3.5 shekels a year ago to around 2.9 shekels, making exports less profitable in local-currency terms. But for this plant, management says the exchange rate is only the final blow, not the main reason for the shutdown.
Blade Technology was founded in 1968 by Stef Wertheimer, in response to France's arms embargo after the Six-Day War. Pratt & Whitney, one of the world's major jet-engine makers, bought the company from the Wertheimer family in 2014. The U.S. parent decided in late 2022 to close the Nahariya operation, and the extensions granted since then only delayed the inevitable.
The land changed hands again in 2024, when Marathon Fund bought the site from Menivim for 155 million shekels. Pratt & Whitney will keep paying rent until 2029, and the transfer of ownership is expected in two to three years. Marathon plans to rezone the industrial site into a new residential neighborhood with about 800 apartments plus retail, employment, and hotel space. The company says Nahariya Mayor Ronen Marli, City Engineer Tal Himi, and the Northern District planning committee support the plan, and a state infrastructure body is also advancing a nearby marina that could boost the area's appeal.
