I understand Galway is not the main market for Shannon, but it is the biggest market that Shannon/Knock share and I would imagine that most of the Germans on the Cologne to knock flight last year went to Galway. Many now will probably venture Clare and Kerry now too.
The Stobart base, where is this information being sourced from?
Imo, they are dropping the base because they fear Ryanair will add flights to Birmingham and destroy their market. They may continue flights from their bases in Cork and Dublin, but will not even try to challenge Ryanair.