Restructuring plans at Shannon Airport will get underway immediately after unions and management settled outstanding difficulties last night.
After a roundtable meeting, union concerns were dealt with and the €36m restructuring plan will now commence.
The plan involves 187 redundancies, the outsourcing of some operations and the end of Shannon Airport Authority's involvement in the catering business.
A spokeswoman for the airport said they hope to have the jobs phased out by the end of the summer.
Talks in relation to the restructuring plan for Shannon Airport have been ongoing for the past two years.
A business plan for the airport, which would eventually lead it to become an independent entity, have yet to be finalised because of the slow progress of the talks.
American Airlines and Air Canada announced it will end its service to/from Shannon this autumn following the new Open Skies Agreement.
The EU-US deal put an end the Shannon stopover, which required US airlines flying to Ireland to touch down at least some of their flights in Shannon.
Shannon Tourism Meltdown?
The airport will not be the only entity hard hit by the effects of Open Skies.
An Irish hotel lobbying group called on the Government today to immediately release €53m to negate the sharp drop being witnessed in tourism.
€5m of that would promote Shannon in the North American market.
The group claims the Government promised Shannon the money and that American Airlines and Air Canada's decision to pull out will cost local hotels €600,000.
