The withdrawal by Aer Lingus from the Shannon-Heathrow route "is a major wake-up call" for the Co Clare airport, Fr Harry Bohan said yesterday.
The campaigning priest and sociologist said: "For too long, Shannon has been reacting to decisions made elsewhere and it is time that ownership of the airport was placed in the region. Its future needs to be controlled locally and the Government must wipe clear its debt."
Fr Bohan said that interests in the region have not over-reacted to the Aer Lingus decision. "It is a serious blow to the region. The reaction is very understandable . . . It is going to have a serious impact on business in the region.
"We have been totally pre-occupied with 'open skies' and took the Heathrow routes for granted . . . Once Aer Lingus was privatised, it no longer had to consider regional or national interest."
Meanwhile, Aer Arann executive chairman Pádraig Ó Céidigh told RTÉ yesterday that airlines have pulled out of Shannon in the two years since Ryanair started there because of the "sweetheart deal" the airline had negotiated with the airport.
"Shannon is perceived in the industry as a Ryanair-dominated airport". He said that since Ryanair came to Shannon, five airlines had left: British Airways, Hapagfly, Thomson, EasyJet and Flybe .
He claimed that Shannon needed Ryanair's business at the time and took a short-term view. This "short-term strategy by Shannon airport has to be revisited".
Mr Ó Céidigh said Aer Lingus's move was a "purely economic decision".
Shannon served 300,000 people while Belfast served 1½ to 2 million, and "airlines go where the population is".