One More Thing:It's not all bad news for Shannon Airport in spite of the impression given by lobby groups out west. On Wednesday, Ryanair announced eight new routes from Shannon, including flights to London Luton and Dublin.
Things are also looking up on the transatlantic front.
At a global media day in New York late last month, Continental Airlines told the assembled press that it had no plans to downgrade its transatlantic operations from Shannon when the stopover goes at the end of March as part of the open skies deal.
"We're very pleased with the results in Shannon right now," said Zane Rowe, Continental's senior vice-president of network.
"We can't commit to anything on the growth side, but we're very happy with traffic from the region and Shannon is very much on our schedule."
US-based charter operator Kenny Tours, meanwhile, is looking at offering transatlantic flights from Shannon next year.
The group, which has been booking tours into Ireland since 1989, said recently that it wanted to offer weekly chartered flights between Shannon and Niagara Falls International Airport, which sits on the US side of the border with Canada and offers access to New York and Ontario.
Losing Aer Lingus's flights to London was a blow for Shannon, but these announcements prove there's more to life than Heathrow.
