Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion has today said he does not expect the airline to change its decision to end its Shannon to Heathrow route.
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week radio programme, Mr Mannion accepted there was disappointment at the decision but said that many passengers using Heathrow to connect to flights for US destinations would be able to fly direct to the US from Shannon later this year.
Local opposition to the move continued today with Catholic and Protestant bishops in the mid-west have joining calls for Aer Lingus to reverse a decision to halt services from Shannon to Heathrow.
A joint statement was distributed at masses and Church of Ireland services in Ireland's today. It describes the plan to halt the service as very damaging.
SIPTU also released a statement in which its general secretary Joe O'Flynn said theGovernment must explore the option of new Heathrow slots for the proposed Aer Lingus flights schedule from Belfast with its London and Belfast counterparts,
"The decision to open a new service from Belfast to Heathrow by Aer Lingus was as much a political issue as a commercial one and the political consequences need to be addressed as fully as the economic ones", Mr O'Flynn said today.
The Government is already under political pressure to intervene over the company's move to Belfast. Even though the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey stressed it was a commercial decision by the airline, councillors in County Clare have pledged to try and reverse the decision.
Mayor Patricia McCarthy, who called an all-party meeting in Ennis to formulate a strategy, warned that unless the service is retained the region would suffer a devastating economic blow.
"The minister is saying there's nothing he can do. We don't accept that," said Mayor McCarthy.