The mood in Dublin airport was tense yesterday as confirmation of the massive redundancies planned by Aer Lingus filtered through. Airline staff and employees were all anxious about the huge cut in jobs. "At the moment we have no idea what's happening. No one knows what jobs will go, so we're all very nervous," said one Aer Lingus worker who has been with the company for over six years. Many of the staff were reluctant to talk about the issue and expressed concern that they hadn't been kept up to date on the situation. While shops in the airport said that they were worried about a drop in trade due to the cutbacks in the number of flights, there was a sense that people had been bracing themselves for this news since September 11th. However, the main business expected to suffer from the loss of the 2,500 Aer Lingus jobs are the restaurants and sandwich bars within the airport, which receive massive trade from airline staff. But the manager of the Skyview bar, Philip Gelling, said the situation was not as dire as was being predicted. "The bar is still full especially every weekend," he said.

Taxi drivers at the airport have also expressed concern about the possible drop in trade. "It hasn't affected us to date but it is a concern and if the flights aren't there to take people into the country we'll feel it soon enough," said one driver.