The Goverment has indicated that it will not bring pressure to bear on Aer Lingus to reverse its decision to axe its Shannon to Heathrow flights.
It said it is "particularly disappointed" with the recent decision but as Aer Lingus is a private company it would be inappropriate for the Government to intervene in its decision making.
Meanwhile, the Aer Lingus Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) is to seek a meeting with the Aer Lingus chairman about the withdrawal of the Shannon-Heathrow route.
Following a meeting, the ESOT issued a statement to say it was seeking professional advice on the company's decision. The ESOT holds a 12% stake in Aer Lingus.
Earlier, a cabinet minister said the Government should, as a last resort, use its 25% shareholding in Aer Lingus to reverse the airline's decision to terminate its Shannon-Heathrow service.
The Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, also questioned the advice being given on the controversy to the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey. Mr Dempsey had said groups in the mid-west may be exaggerating claims about the impact of the Aer Lingus decision.
Mr O'Dea said he would prefer that airline management change its decision before what he called 'the armageddon situation' of an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.
He said that if Aer Lingus management were allowed to transfer routes as they wished without answering to the shareholders, then what had been done to Shannon could also be done to Cork and Dublin airports.
Meanwhile, an Aer Lingus spokesman has said the airline remains fully committed to retaining all its Cork to Heathrow flights.
It had been reported that Aer Lingus had been planning to abandon an early morning flight to Heathrow and a return evening flight to Cork. The spokesman said there was absolutely no threat to any of the flights to Heathrow. The error resulted from a mistake in the schedule on the Aer Lingus website.
