Jet Aviation this week laid off 94 full-time employees at its completions and maintenance facility in Basel, Switzerland. The employees were allowed to leave work immediately yesterday but will be paid for another two or three months, depending on the terms of their contracts. According to a company spokesman, there will be a reduction of almost 200 people at the facility with the departure of some contract personnel and some staff who are leaving voluntarily. The downsizing is spread across Jet Aviation Basel’s various aircraft completion and maintenance programs. The group still employs 1,600 people in Basel, having hired more than 450 new staff in recent years when demand was exceptionally high. On Tuesday, Jay Johnson, president and CEO of General Dynamics, parent company of Gulfstream and Jet Aviation, said he is starting to see “traction” in aircraft maintenance and believes there is pent-up demand for service since many operators deferred maintenance during the downturn. However, Johnson didn’t address the demand for aircraft completions work in his presentation at the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Global Industries Conference. Industry sources indicate that demand for bizliner completions–the segment least affected by the downturn–has softened in the past six months.