The Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) is likely to lose almost 10 per cent of its total annual passenger numbers arising from Aer Lingus's decision to end its Shannon to Heathrow service.
A spokeswoman for the SAA confirmed yesterday that the route accounts for 320,000 passengers per annum - and last year, the airport had an overall total of 3.6 million passengers.
Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion is to address Aer Lingus workers at Shannon today on the move. Local speculation yesterday suggested 45 to 100 job losses could occur.
The Irish Business and Employers' Confederation's regional director, Chris O'Donovan, said yesterday: "It would be naive in the extreme to believe that employment and investment in the region won't be affected by this announcement."
Mr O'Donovan said there is already uncertainty in business and tourism over the impact of the "open skies" agreement on Shannon and the announcement by Aer Lingus "will only add further to these concerns".
The Shannon-based mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind), said locals were "reeling" from the announcement.
"I find it hard to comprehend how the Government as a major shareholder in the company can allow this to happen. The rumours were circulating for a considerable time over the Heathrow routes, but nobody believed it would happen as no one thought it was in Aer Lingus's best interests to end the service."
At a press briefing in Shannon in December 2005, Mr Mannion committed the airline to 400,000 passengers out of Shannon on a year-round basis in an open skies environment.
Arising from today's anticipated announcement, Aer Lingus's routes out of Shannon will be to three US destinations - New York, Boston and Chicago - with the company not having any scheduled service from Shannon to Europe, instead concentrating on developing its European routes from Dublin and Cork.
Ms McCarthy said a better approach would be to transfer Heathrow slots from other Irish airports rather than remove all of them from Shannon.
She has called a meeting of the council's corporate policy group (CPG) for next Saturday and extended an invitation to business interests. "A plan needs to be formulated to combat this. This is a not short-term blow and we need to act in Shannon's interests to ensure that there isn't lasting damage from this," she said.
The SAA declined to comment ahead of today's announcement.
Fine Gael's Pat Breen said: "As a shareholder in the company, the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey must make it clear to Aer Lingus that retention of the existing slots to and from Shannon are critical to providing connectivity to this region . . .
"The Shannon/Heathrow service is a vital bridge to the west of Ireland and this region cannot afford to see that bridge cut off."
