Excellent post; I can still remember listening to a live interview he gave on BBC Radio Bristol just after an airline (RyanAir maybe?) had bailed out of Bristol until it was sorted.
I think you will find that it was easyJet that took the initiative to de-camp to CWL until the surface friction issues were satisfactorily resolved.
As I remember, I belive that Ryanair decided to continue to operate from BRS, but I'm ready to be corrected.
Cheers Silvertop