Originally Posted by Liffy 1M
The point that the Shannon lobby are missing (or ignoring) here is that Aer Lingus has been privatised and, like any other commercial company it will act in a manner that maximises return to shareholders (who, ironically, include the very workers complaining about today's developments). One has to assume that the company sees the immediate and future potential at BFS as far outstripping that at Shannon and that, while the SNN-LHR route may be viable, Belfast is expected to be more profitable.
Spot on. Lets put it another way, Shannon cannot give enough support to a Heathrow route to keep airlines from finding better business elsewhere. People continue to think of Aer Lingus as the "national carrier" and that somehow that means it must serve the needs of the few above it's own need to maintain profitability. That is simply not the case any more. A rude wake up call for some, perhaps, but a wake up call none the less.