Flights now operate in the evening in the upcoming winter timetable, dept ex LGW 17:50, dept ex SNN 19:55. A much more suitable schedule for the Shannon market.
There's no great harm in having the early Gatwick-Shannon as otherwise the first London-Shannon flight with Aer Lingus wouldn't get business travellers to their destination before lunch time.
The bulk of the business traffic on Shannon/London is SNN based though, people travelling
to London, not
from London. Demand for early morning London-Shannon flights has always been weak and the yield is sh**e. It's not surprising that EI have adjusted the schedule so early on.
I think I read that Gatwick/Malaga going down to once daily, I cant see the route being kept, 1 solitary route being operated by Aer Lingus that doesnt arrive in or leave from the Island of Ireland. My prediction is that Aer Lingus will scale back the LGW operation from end of Summer Timetable.
The return of BA on the route will put the EI service under further pressure and will also greatly diminish the chances of capturing the higher end of the market. It's only a matter of time before the route is cut in it's entirety.