Twenty-two employees at the South East Regional Airport at Waterford have been issued with protective notice following the decision of Euroceltic Airways to withdraw from the airport.
Euroceltic announced last week it would be pulling out on January 26th. The airline said it had hoped to attract 40,000 passengers to use its London-Luton service this year, which would have allowed it to break even on its operations.
However, only 31,000 passengers will travel by the end of the year, which is not enough to make it viable for Euroceltic to continue to operate out of the airport.
The airline also ran a weekly service to Liverpool.
The planned expansion of helicopter search-and-rescue services operated by CHC Ltd from the airport on behalf of the Irish Coast Guard is also now in doubt due to a lack of funding to provide back-up staff and services.