Jet Aviation to cut 300 jobs in Basel-Mulhouse

The aviation services company Jet Aviation will slash 300 jobs from a total of 1,600 at Basel's EuroAirport by the end of the year, a company spokesman said.

The reasons given for the decision, made public by the firm’s head of personnel on Tuesday, were the strength of the Swiss franc and a decline in orders.

News of the job cuts first emerged at the end of August and a consultation process was initiated which concluded at the end of last week.

The cuts will affect staff at the aircraft completion facility as well as the administrative service. Some 60 per cent of the Jet Aviation employees at EuroAirport come from neighbouring France and 20 per cent are from Germany.

Along with the job cuts, the working week will be increased from 42.5 hours to 45 hours for the same salary from January. This is intended as a transitional arrangement until the value of the franc weakens.

Jet Aviation already cut 200 jobs in 2009, followed by 80 in 2010. The company employs more than 5,000 people worldwide;  Basel-Mulhouse is its largest operations centre.

The Swiss-founded company, with management headquarters in Zurich, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of United States firm General Dynamics.