Struggling BAA has hired Blair's former spin doctor Tom Kelly in an effort to halt an ever-growing tide of bad publicity. Kelly is notorious for slandering weapons expert David Kelly, who he called a "Walter Mitty" character just days after his suicide.

BAA is facing a difficult winter - with a Transport Select Committee inquiry into it's future, an assault by the Civil Aviation Authority on its landing fee charges and a Competition Commission investigation into its monopoly on airports in the South-East - and hopes the ex-Downing Street adviser's contacts will help them escape unscathed.

Good to see the revolving door just keeps on spinning...

No one said Flying Matters were shrewd at public relations. Their last attempt at advertising consisted of a smear campaign on an Inuit leader - guilty only of caring that his people are suffering from our addiction to weekends in Spain.

But their latest garbled comment, in today's Times article, is a classic attempt to make aviation into the saviour of humanity:

"[Plane Stupid's] actions impact most on those they profess to be protecting: families who holiday once a year, ethnic minorities who rely on air transport to visit family, and farmers in the developing world reliant on UK consumers.”