Mile-high French taxes force Swiss to shut shop in Basel
National carrier, Swiss International Air Lines is to stop its operations at Basel’s EuroAirport at the end of May 2015. The decision comes as no surprise (Le News passim) with the airline blaming a difficult political environment that offers little prospect carriers such as SWISS being able to operate profitably. Indeed, Swiss’ operations in Basel have failed to generate a profit from the start.
The already difficult conditions caused by the massive growth in the region of low-cost competitors have been exacerbated by continuing legal uncertainties over the adoption of French tax law and the additional fees that have been announced at EuroAirport, which stands on French soil. The airline management was at pains to point out that its decision to cease these operations has been taken independently of whether Basel may be chosen as a future Eurowings base of parent Lufthansa Group.
The airline has indicated that no jobs will be lost as a result of its decision.
