Aer lingus,the Irish national carrier is pulling out of its hub at Shannon and relocating to Belfast International Airport.Leaving the people and business community of Irelands mid west without a link to London Heathrow,on the surface youd say,so what,as I did,but the amount to hype and anger in the area is amazing.
Aer Lingus '25% owned by the Gov',was making profits out of Shannon,but not enough it seems.
The business community around Shannon and Limerick have complained as they believe they need a Heathrow link for onward conection to Europe and North America.
Tourism and Investment to the mid west may be damaged to the tune of 100 million euros a year.
1000s of jobs may become under threat.
Shit said I to myself,as Belfast International is serviced very well with flights to London,and with 2 airports,you can get outta here very fast if required.

http://www.village.ie/Forum/Society_Blog/Aer_Lingus_Shannon_debacle_the_price_to_be_paid/


If things werent bad enough,Ryanair,the other big Irish carrier has now moved into Belfast City Airport starting with 4 flights daily to,yea u got it,London (Stansted).Tho this isnt to everybodys delight.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6982165.stm

That doesnt make much sense. The only service to London is out of Belfast now, nothing direct from Shannon?

They did the same thing to Palmdale here in So Cal. Palmdale torned into a graveyard, and the only ones using it until recently was the Air Force and Corporate flights at Lockheed. That forsed everyone from the Antelope Valley to drive to Burbank or LAX to catch a flight. If you were going to Vegas, it took less time to drive than it did to fly.

Well, good thing my grandmother and I took our trip to Shannon a few months ago... I don't have anything to say against Aer Lingus though; they really pulled out the stops. Unlike U.S. airlines, we got a free meal and it was actually not disgusting! :D

I heard on Radio the other day that British Airways and BMI Baby are interested in moving into Shannon.I dont think the Shannon North America stuff is effected,they get a lot of traffic stopping to refuel there including the USAF and a couple of dodgy leerjets with blackened out windows.
Tho that said,Easjet fly Belfast-London every half hour or so,dirt cheap,so Im not sure Aer Lingus have got it right here.