From Swissinfo today
Swiss spokesman Jean-Claude Donzel said the company had handed over a document to the unions in which it stated how many pilots’ jobs were to be cut.
The move was confirmed by Christoph Frick, the president of Swiss pilots, the union of former Crossair pilots, who said that it represented the “maximum demands” from Swiss.
But both men declined to comment on the mooted amount of 306 posts, saying that negotiations between the two sides, currently ongoing, are confidential.
According to the Zurich-based SonntagsZeitung, the document, which has been presented to the pilots, cabin personnel and ground staff unions, calls for the number of jobs among regional pilots to fall from 440 to 207.
The number of posts cut for Airbus pilots is said to be 73 of the 658 pilots currently employed.
Restructuring
Swiss announced on January 18 that it is to shed up to 1,000 jobs over the next 18 months and reduce its fleet by 13 aircraft in a bid to cut costs by SFr300 million ($253 million) by 2007.
At the time, the company said it hoped that one third of the jobs due to be axed could be lost through natural attrition. Swiss would be discussing the compulsory job cuts with the unions, it added.
The airline blamed pressure from low-cost carriers, such as easyJet, for the decision to downsize, and said it would focus in future on profitable routes.
Swiss warned that it needed to implement the measures quickly to be in a position to post an operating profit for 2005.
The current European fleet is made up of seven Saab, 19 Jumbolino and 11 Embraer machines. The SonntagsZeitung alleges that all Saab pilots are due to lose their jobs and that after restructuring only 17 Jumbolino and seven Embraer planes will remain in service.
Destinations
According to another Sunday paper, the French-speaking Le Matin Dimanche, Swiss is preparing to hand over three destinations from Geneva Airport - Paris, Rome and Lisbon - to its foreign partners.
Donzel declined to comment on this, saying only that at the end of negotiations two to three destinations from Geneva airport would be transferred to other companies and that Swiss would continue to serve six destinations from Geneva.