Just like that.

No warning, no debate, no input from local interest groups, no government involvement . . . simply, from January, no more Aer Lingus flights to Heathrow. And, for those business executives based in the west whose busy schedules depend on fast international access, a travel void.

The spectre of hundreds of millions of euro in lost business, loss of expansion, multinationals pulling out and a jobs meltdown have all been raised at length in the media over the past few days Now those five flights to Heathrow a day may have represented 320,000 passengers a year and about 9% of Shannon airport's business, but those who shout foul need to get a grip.

They raised a similar campaign of despair over the ending of the Shannon stopover on flights to the United States. Now that it has almost disappeared, travellers are delighted and its demise did not cause an economic apocalypse in the region. Nor will this.

Rather than scaring off potential investors and tourism business with dire forebodings of gloom, political and business leaders in the area would do better to let the world know their success isn't built solely on five daily flights to Heathrow. They were important, of course, but they were just one of a myriad of reasons for locating businesses in Shannon. Tax breaks, low corporation tax (something Belfast would dearly love), spectacular scenery and leisure facilities, a good workforce, easy access to the United States and proximity to the markets of Limerick, Galway and Athlone are all reasons to be cheerful.

It is ironic, of course, that those who are now most anxious about the impact on employment in the area are employers and their representatives such as Ibec who, when Aer Lingus was privatised, were most vehement in their criticism of state involvement in business.

Business leaders have a valid point about the need for regular, convenient flights to an international hub so they can work in London and Europe quickly and efficiently. It was strenuously argued at the time that infrastructural air routes should not be at the mercy of commercial considerations. The consequences are now clear to see.

But there is no going back on the privatisation of Aer Lingus, whose management must be thinking it a bit rich that other senior executives in the business of maximising profit seriously expect the airline to lower its financial horizons to facilitate them.

At the same time, air routes are a vital part of a region's infrastructure and the Aer Lingus decision flies in the face of the government's decentralisation strategy. But in this clash beween commerce and political planning, it's how everyone deals with the Aer Lingus transfer to Belfast that matters now.

Particularly puzzling in that regard is the complete lack of government reaction. It cannot intervene in the Aer Lingus decision but it and business leaders can do a lot more to help everyone "move on, " as they like to say in business jargon. The government's week-long silence simply added to the local alarm.

If Shannon can't attract another airline with Heathrow slots, the airport managers should look at all the alternatives . . . and market their advantages to business leaders in the west.

Heathrow isn't the only airport with great international links. Like Dublin, it's travel hell.

Frankfurt and Schiphol are just as attached to the rest of Europe, in the Eurozone, and much more pleasant places to pass through.

In this day and age, the ability to get up quickly and recover from a sucker punch is as important a business plan as any . . . especially when the loyalty you'd relied on from your old friends is no longer there.

And you never know, when you look further afield, you can do even better.