Hopes high for French connection
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Shannon airport is aiming for overall growth on its UK and European routes this year in spite of the loss of the London Heathrow service.
The last flight on the route took off last night and the ending of the service will result in Shannon losing 320,000 passengers, or 10pc of its terminal traffic.
Airport director Martin Moroney admitted Aer Lingus's decision to pull the route was "a severe loss".
"(It is) a big blow as it was a highly important route, but I believe that we have restored our global connectivity with the new Air France-CityJet service to Paris Charles de Gaulle which commences on February 4," he said.
Mr Moroney said the launch of new Ryanair services to other London airports, and the CityJet service, will nearly make up the shortfall in passenger numbers this year and should exceed the 320,000 total in 2009.
He said approximately 320,000 passengers used the Aer Lingus service last year, which was "on a par" with 2006.
