Ryanair says it has written to Aer Lingus to ask for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to discuss the airline's plan to withdraw the Shannon-Heathrow route.
Ryanair said it would be prepared to use its 25% stake to vote to retain the Heathrow services, but it also said it would be prepared to abstain and allow the Government and ESOT to use their stakes to reverse the Aer Lingus decision.
A Fianna Fáil TD backed the Ryanair move, calling on the Government to use its shareholding in Aer Lingus to reverse the decision to end flights from Shannon to Heathrow.
Limerick East TD Peter Power says he supports Ryanair's move to call an EGM of shareholders to discuss the issue.
At a press conference in Shannon this morning, Ryanair also said that if Aer Lingus went ahead with its plan, it would add three extra daily flights to London airports. These include a fourth daily flight to Stansted, a second to Gatwick and a daily flight to Luton.
Chief executive Michael O'Leary said Ryanair had suggested that Aer Lingus switch its recently-announced Dublin-Gatwick services to Belfast in order to maintain flights to Heathrow from Shannon.
Ryanair said the solution was now 'in Bertie Ahern's court' and said the Government could not ignore an EGM motion.
