Heathrow flight change not well received

AS all connected with Shannon Airport know, its connectivity to Heathrow, one of the world’s most important hubs, is absolutely crucial. Given that there will be some disappointment that Aer Lingus are putting their first service of the day to Heathrow back by a little over an hour, from 7.30am to 8.45am.
In a statement, Aer Lingus said it was because an existing arrangement had come to an end. “The timing of the flight has been changed as the original slot pair is no longer available to us. This is due to the expiry of a lease. In order to ensure that the frequency and capacity on the route is unaffected, we have acquired another slot pair.
“The timing change is unavoidable, however, we have conducted an analysis of the onward connectivity available at Heathrow for those travelling at the new timing and are confident that there is no material effect of the timing change.”
Shannon-based Councillor Sean McLoughlin said the decision to have the flight departing at a later time wasn’t good news for Shannon. He said there were once a flight leaving Shannon at 5.30am for Heathrow and he would like that to be restored. “I suppose its disappointing they are playing around with this flight again after all these years. It’s important that there be a flight in Shannon to Heathrow which would allow people to go into an office or into a company and do a full day’s work, or make connections from Heathrow to other destinations. If the flight leaves Shannon at 8.45am they’ll be getting into Heathrow at about 10am, which is leaving it late if you have to get another connection or go to the Midlands or the North of England. It is disappointing and I’d hope that Aer Lingus would put back on the original flight in and out of Shannon which suited everyone. They had full, or at least 95%, capacity on those flights.”
He said he does have confidence in the ability of Rose Hynes and her team to turn Shannon around, after several very poor years but says the Clare public need to make use out of the airport. “I would encourage anyone flying to use Shannon, we now need to support the airport. Even if it’s a little bit inconvenient it will be worth it in the end and if airlines are doing well in Shannon they will bring in more services.”
While he was disappointed with the time of the first Heathrow flight changing, he said he was pleased the amount of transatlantic services is increasing for the summer.