More small investors in Sydney Airport are publicly venting their opposition to the company’s proposed $23.6 billion takeover as a vote on the deal looms in early February, arguing its board is taking a short-term view.

Ian Robilliard, who owns more than 14,000 shares with his wife, told The Australian Financial Review that while there may be a “hiatus” of several years in airline travel, he believed screening the health of travellers would eventually become as routine as increased security at airports following the September 11 terror attacks.