Gulfstream Aerospace and an affiliate plan to lay off about 25 percent of their combined work force employed at Love Field facilities in Dallas, a direct result of the recession, which has severely hurt business aviation.

Most of the 219 job cuts will come at the end of July from Gulfstream's midsize aircraft completion center, which installs interiors and other features on the company's G150, G200 and G250 business jet models.

"The market for midsize cabin aircraft plummeted last fall, exacerbated by a complete lack of credit," Gulfstream spokesman Robert Baugniet said.

In addition to the completion center, Gulfstream operates a service center for Gulfstream jet owners and operates General Dynamics Aviation Services, which provides service and modification for other manufacturers' private jets.

Baugniet said some contract and full-time employees had been let go earlier. At the end of December, Gulfstream and its affiliates employed 878 people at Love Field.

Officials of Gulfstream's parent company, General Dynamics, announced in March that the private jet subsidiary would lay off 1,200 people companywide. Twenty-two hundred more at the company's large jet manufacturing complex and headquarters in Savannah, Ga., will be furloughed this year, meaning they will not be paid but will still receive Gulfstream benefits.

Baugniet said some employees of the service centers have had their workweek cut from 40 to 32 hours.

The business jet manufacturing industry has been extremely hard hit by the economic slump, with new orders for airplanes dwindling to a trickle and many existing orders either canceled or delayed. In Wichita, Kan., Cessna Aircraft Co. and Hawker Beechcraft have announced more than 8,000 layoffs.

The impact of the economic slump was compounded, Baugniet said, by the bad publicity about corporate jet use after executives of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford flew in their jets to Washington, D.C., in the fall to plead for government aid.

"As a result of the economy and attacks on business aviation in general, people are flying less hours and some people are shutting down company flight departments as well," Baugniet said.