Publicity & Politics News
Below are links to stories on protests, publicity events and other aviation stories that have hit the news.
Greta Thunberg joins protest against expansion of Farnborough airport, that is only for private jets
The climate activist Greta Thunberg marched alongside local residents and XR activists to protest against Farnborough airport’s expansion plans. The airport, that only has private jets, submitted a planning application to Rushmoor borough council in September 2023 to increase the number of flights from 50,000 to 70,000 a year. The plan is also to increase weekend and bank holiday flights going from 8,900 to 18,000 per year, and for flights to be allowed an hour earlier and later at weekends, so changing from from 8am to 8pm currently, to 7am to 9pm. They also want to increase the weight of jets, so even bigger and heavier private jets can operate without restriction. Private jets produce far, far more CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer even than business/first class in commercial planes. They are used not only by politicians and top business people, for work purposes, but increasingly just for holidays and leisure. The large protest at the airport called for a total ban on private jets. Greta Thunberg attended, and said: “The fact that using private jets is both legally and socially allowed today in an escalating climate emergency is completely detached from reality.”
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Greenpeace and XR climate activists storm Amsterdam Schiphol airport and block private jets
Dutch border police arrested hundreds of climate activists who stormed the private jet area of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and sat in front of the wheels of aircraft to prevent them from leaving. More than 100 protesters from Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion entered an area where private jets are kept, as part of a day of demonstrations in and around the airport organised by environmental groups to mark the start of the COP27 talks in Egypt. Greenpeace says Schiphol is the largest source of CO2 emissions in the Netherlands, emitting 12 billion kilograms annually. Around 200 activists were arrested, and there is video of many escaping on bicycles, while the police try to catch them on foot (one activist received a head injury). The airport says the usual greenwashing stuff about becoming an emissions-free airport by 2030 etc (conveniently ignoring the flights) and being net zero by 2050. Blah blah. The Dutch transport minister, Mark Harbers, told parliament last month that his office could not control growing private jet traffic, and the government was considering whether to include the issue in its climate policy. Private jets emit greatly more CO2 per person than even on commercial planes.
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Appeal judges free XR protestor who glued himself to London City Airport plane – sentence cut to 4 months
A former Paralympic athlete, James Brown, who superglued himself to the roof of a British Airways plane at London City Airport to draw attention to the climate crisis has had his sentence cut from one year to four months by appeal judges. Extinction Rebellion activist James Brown from Exeter, was in September jailed by a judge at Southwark Crown Court after being convicted of causing a public nuisance. Lawyers representing Brown said there had been no reason to charge him with causing a public nuisance. They argued that the 12-month term was 'manifestly disproportionate' and said Brown suffered 'unique hardship' in prison because of his disability. The lawyers also questioned the proportionality of the decision to bring the charge, saying he could have been charged with aggravated trespass and told appeal judges that custody was not justified on the facts of the case. The double-gold medallist climbed onto the Amsterdam-bound plane before gluing his right hand to it and wedging his mobile phone in the door to prevent it from closing. He live-streamed the protest until he was removed after an hour.
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The alternative (hoax) “International Aviation Carbon Ambition Coalition” website – what the real one should say !
Persons unknown have taken the opportunity of the launch by the government at COP26, of a new grouping called the International Aviation Carbon Ambition Coalition", to provide a (sadly, spoof....) website for the organisation. The website, IACAC, has the sorts of commitments the real organisation should - and does not - propose or commit to. Some of the hoax commitments are, in summary: 1. Halve air traffic emissions departing from signatory countries by 2030, from 2005 levels. 2. Include emissions from flight departures (both domestic and international) within signatory country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). 3. Introduce a minimum jet fuel tax of €0.33 per litre. 4. Not use carbon offsetting as an emissions reduction measure. and 5. Ban crop-based aviation biofuel. This involves the commitment to strengthen CORSIA’s sustainability criteria for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). These are the sorts of changes that ICAO and global organisations responsible for the aviation industry and its climate impact, should be starting work on.
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Stay grounded protests across many countries, on 6th November, during COP26
There were numerous protests, timed to be during the Glasgow COP talks, on Saturday 6th November. The aim was to highlight the need to reduce the demand for flying, and the number of flights being taken, globally. Also to point out the deceptive, misleading "greenwash" being peddled by the aviation industry, and enthusiastically taken up by governments, especially the UK government. The industry is placing its hopes in novel techno-fixes (electric planes, hydrogen, new fuels made from wastes or from supposedly excess renewably generated electricity, in future). None of those can be scaled up to anything even faintly the scale of demand, especially as the industry is planning continued rapid growth, for several more decades. The greenwash is dangerous, as it gives people a false, unjustifiable, sense that they can fly "without guilt" as the sector has brilliant solutions to carbon emissions, just around the corner. The greenwash is intended to permit more "business as usual" flying, with no reduction. Details here of many of the protests, organised through the Stay Grounded network.
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Greenpeace France “greenwash” an AirFrance plane at Charles de Gaulle airport
Greenpeace France activists got onto the tarmac at Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport to denounce the government's greenwashing of aviation. They painted the side of an AirFrance plane green - greenwashing it. They say we need to reduce air travel, in order to be compatible the Paris Agreement targets. This comes a few days before the start of parliamentary debates on the “Climate and Resilience” bill. Greenpeace says airport expansion must be stopped - several French airports have such plans at present. They say now only should flights be replaced by rail journeys if the train time is under 2hours 30 minutes, but when the trip is under 6 hours. Greenpeace is not against novel technologies, but they say these will not be enough to make a sufficient difference, in the necessary timescale. The proposed technical solutions are a risk, as they delay real action. They explain why biofuels, hydrogen planes, or electric planes are not going to cut aviation emissions any time soon, if ever. Synthetic fuels made from surplus renewably generated electricity offer a small potential, but they will be expensive and only produced in small amounts. So air travel needs to be regulated and reduced.
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Greenpeace Netherlands is going to court to force the Dutch government to discontinue their bailout for KLM
Greenpeace Netherlands is going to court to force the Dutch government to discontinue their bailout for airline KLM, because climate conditions are lacking. As a first step, Greenpeace formally informed the government. This lawsuit could potentially have important consequences for other airline bailouts. Just in Europe alone, governments have supported the airlines with €32.5 billion so far. A spokesperson said the Dutch bailout "fuels the climate crisis, breaking the duty of the Dutch government to protect its citizens.” KLM does not have a solid climate action plan and the environmental policy for aviation from the Dutch government is inadequate. The bailout is not even definitely saving many jobs in the airline. Vague hopes that in future electrical planes or planes that fly with sustainably sourced fuel, will not be available before too long are unrealistic. Therefore the number of flights needs to reduce substantially, and Greenpeace says this should start with revoking short-distance flights under a thousand kilometres. KLM was responsible for 8.6 MtCO2 emissions in 2018.
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Bristol protests against the airport appealing against North Somerset Council rejection of expansion plans
Extinction Rebellion and local groups held a number of protest on Saturday 29th August, at UK airports. A large event was held at Bristol Airport, in protest against the decision by the airport to appeal against the rejection of their expansion plans, by North Somerset Council. Extinction Rebellion held a "mourning procession" and hundreds of people marched to the airport, observing Covid social distancing, and in silence, to follow a death theme. One of the protest organisers commented: “When the refusal of Bristol International Airport (BIA) expansion plans became international news in February this year, everyone thought we’d seen the death of the terrifying fantasy of an expanded airport in this time of ecological and climate emergency. We were wrong." Another said the "democratic process, underpinned by massive public objection, is being threatened, whilst lies about economic benefits and carbon-neutrality are spread with flagrant disregard to the truth." And it is crazy that precious council funds have to be wasted on this unnecessary appeal, when the money is need to deal with Covid-related issues, among many others.
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Extinction Rebellion protestors say mass ‘lie-in’ at Heathrow is ‘warning shot’ and vow to get arrested at future protests if 3rd runway goes ahead
Extinction Rebellion have blocked a road outside Heathrow Airport by lying in front of a bulldozer. Protesters descended on the airport en masse, cycling in convoy down the M4 from Hyde Park Corner, with cyclists joining along the route, halting several lanes of traffic. Dozens of environmental activists lay down on the tarmac outside the roundabout where the Emirates plane model is located. Part of Bath Road, above Tunnel Road roundabout, was closed as the protesters got a full-size pink tractor with a “bulldozer” shovel at the front, adorned with newspaper headlines on air pollution. They lay in front of it, as a reminder to Boris Johnson, that he had said he "would lie down in front of the bulldozers" to block the building of a 3rd Heathrow runway (and has since gone very quiet on the matter...) The protest was part of Extinction Rebellion's Christmas "12 Days of Crisis" campaign pressuring party leaders to take effective action on climate, in the run up to the election on 12th December. The Metropolitan Police said a Section 14 order was imposed allowing the protest until 3.30pm, after which time activists "run the risk of being arrested and prosecuted."
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300th Frankfurt Monday demo against aircraft noise – 1,000 people -. “Only when no one comes, is it over!”
Back in October 2011 the Frankfurt airport 3rd runway opened. It was greeted with huge anger, because residents had not been informed how much new noise there would be, and that there would be noise where there previously was none. Huge protests started on Monday evenings (airports are public property in Germany, so protests can happen). These carried on with often as many as 1,000 people each week. People were devastated by the noise battering they were being subjected to. Now, 8 years later, the protesters have had their 300th protest, again with perhaps almost 1,000 people present. They say they will not give up, until there are no more protesters. "Only when no one comes, is it over." Their complaints have not been addressed, about noise or particulate air pollution, or the health issues people are suffering - including depression. The airport is continuing to expand, with a new terminal. Its opponents now hope the increasing awareness of carbon emissions from aviation, with campaigns like Fridays for Future, will help put pressure on Frankfurt airport. There is a new campaign against domestic flights.