Cork: Cork Aer Rianta workers have appealed to locals to support their airport, "Concerned Employees Against Break-up" held a meeting last night at the airport's Great Southern Hotel.
They met representatives of Cork Chamber of Commerce, Cork Business Association, hoteliers and local TDs.
"We need to get people to back Cork Airport . . . The chances are if this break-up goes ahead that Cork is going to fall behind," a committee spokesman said.
"While we're happy the new passenger terminal will go ahead, there are many other aspects which need to be urgently addressed, which include the need for more ramp space so that all our cargo doesn't go to Shannon and a runway extension," the spokesman added.
Over 120 Aer Rianta employees - from security, air traffic control to fire services - left their posts at Cork Airport yesterday to attend an-hour long union meeting to discuss the plans to break up the three airports into separate entities.
Officials from SIPTU, MANDATE and Impact met workers for the first time since the announcement last Thursday, where a strategy to resist the break-up was considered.
SIPTU's regional secretary in Cork, Mr Gene Mealy, said workers were "concerned Cork will be subject to an economic scale-back and that it might be the next step to privatisation, which could lead to job losses."
It was the first opportunity for unions to meet workers and they returned to work promptly after the one-hour meeting, he said.
However, many flights were delayed at Cork and at least one was cancelled.
"We're not a bit impressed. We were over on a hen weekend and when we got here we were told that we could either wait and get a flight the next day or pay €135 for another ticket on a different flight," English tourist Ms Michelle Canciani said.
The Coventry visitor had to spend €135 to ensure a seat on a flight to Birmingham, three hours later than the intended one, because her British-European flight was cancelled.
Also affected by the cancellation of the flight was a team of three from the National Research Centre in University College Cork, who were due to take part in a conference.
"We only found out when we got here what was going on, and then we managed to book a flight via Dublin at a cost of €65.
"But it'll get us there three hours later than it should have had," researcher John Alderman said.