TO the irritation of private companies and public organisations, sometimes a relatively small public relations problem has the capacity to overshadow (or at the very least to detract) from more postive matters.

Such has been the case over the past few months with the introduction of parking charges for dropping off and picking passengers at Bournemouth Airport.

The issue sparked some protest among some members of the public, though it’s impossible to assess the extent of level of it. Certainly when a placard waving demo was organised, only a handful of people turned up. What is rather easier to state is that tens of thousands of passengers have already enjoyed the new-look airport following the £50m redevelopment by the owners MAG.

An event to mark the end of the work and to thank those involved was held on Thursday.

Three key points are worth re-emphasising. First, that more carriers need to be encouraged to offer more routes (work is constantly going behind the scenes to achieve that) and local community needs to support them.

Second, the airport itself and the many businesses based there are critical to the health of the Dorset economy. Third, anyone who can remember the years when the airport was state owned and managed by Bournemouth and Dorset Councils, when just about the only flight was a Dan Air HS 748 to the Channel Islands and when ‘Hurn’ was disparaged by Flight magazine as “a collection of sheds,” ought to be fairly pleased that the Manchester Airports Group has had the bottle to put its money where its mouth is.