After a week of the Tornado exercises, and a long political history, it is not surprising that the initial reasons given by rogue Seville air controllers taking industrial action were taken at face value.

It was an unusual story as it broke. Despite the many ploys and episodes we have endured in the past from Spain, overwhelmingly in the pre-Cordoba years, civilian air traffic has never been held hostage despite the long ban on direct flights to and from Madrid that ended with the Cordoba accord.

MOD has long sought to reduce its costs at the airport, to balance its interests in keeping the runway open and active with the fact that it is mostly used for commercial flights.

The consequence of that and the planned growth of the airport has seen the evolution of the Gibraltar Government's Civil Aviation Authority. In that context the station commander's decision is inexplicable.

It is reasonable for the Convent to want to reserve from making its conclusive pronouncement on the affair until it had conducted its own inquiries, but, these being civilian flights, the Gibraltar Government message should have been conveyed to passengers as coming from GoG, the relevant authority. A couple hundred of passengers were entitled to be properly informed.

The incident, not for the first time, also illustrates that central governments do not have absolute control over issues that can affect sensitivities where issues like Gibraltar are concerned.

But Madrid was swift to put its clear position directly both to the Chief Minister and this newspaper on the record.

There would appear to be almost as much need for protocols to be agreed between the Gibraltar and UK governments as there is between the Rock and Spain.