June 10th: 5 eco activists have shut down operations at London City Airport. The group, who are wearing pinstriped suits and bowler hats entered at 2.30 am today. They cut through the perimeter fence and formed a human wheel clamp around one of the airport’s business jet fleet at the west end of the runway. The need to avoid sparks around highly flamable aviation fuel could meen that the normal process of cutting them out of their armtubes could be severely hampered.
Check out the photos on our Flickr photostream.
The ‘eco-takeover’ puts the spotlight on the selfishness of private jet use:
“Because of their low passenger capacity, small jets emit between five and 10 times more carbon per passenger than commercial flights,” said spokeswoman Nancy Birch. “In an age where we face potentially catastrophic climate change, this is no longer an acceptable form of transport. It’s time that private jets were grounded for good.”
Until the downturn, the private jet business was the fastest growing segment of the aviation sector. Over the last ten years it has expanded by almost 50%.
“This is yet another example of the insane rush towards massive airport and flight expansion,” Birch concludes. “The aviation industry seems to think it can pollute its way out of climate change. But anyone with half a brain will know that this is just plane stupid.”
London City airport blights the lives of some of the poorest people in London. Newham has been known to experience air pollution levels which regularly exceed EU safety limits for hightly toxic chemicals such as Nitrus Oxide and has the highest levels of mortality in under 30s in the UK from asthma, a matter that AsthmaUK are currently investigating.
While it seems the group have successfully shut down the private Jet centre part of the airport, locals are reporting that public flights started running from City from 7am. No one is claiming that the protesters have yet been arrested or removed, which suggests that the Airport are breaching health and safety by continuing operations in this restricted area. If the five are still in position then they will have been locked on for 7 hours and a half hours now…
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Police cutting teams weren’t sighted in the area at the time the press team were forced to leave. Acsess roads have now been shut down, and the woman with the phone in the armtube can’t take calls anymore, so it’s difficult to get any news of what’s going on. More photos are available on the Plane Stupid website, check out the flickr stream.
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Notes to the editor
A total of 27 local and regional airports around the UK are currently seeking to expand their activities.
London City Airport recently received local authority permission to expand its commercial flights from 80,000 to 120,000. The airport aims to increase this total to 170,000 by 2030.
Activists targeted London City Airport because it is one of the key drivers of the private jet business. The airport currently sees an average of 170 movements (take-offs and landings) per week. The airport’s Jet Centre predicts this figure will increase to more than 530 a week by 2030.
London City Airport was closed at the time of the eco-takeover. Security was given two hours’ warning before the first flights of the day.
The airport’s Jet Centre comprises a mixture of privately-owned jets and a for-hire business jet operation run by PrivateJet.
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8:30am update & local group press release:
Locals are confirming that flights started from city airport at 7am. While the private Jet Centre where the group are locked on does apear to have been sucessfully shut down, it is alarming that the airport is prepared to disregard health and safety regulations and continue to run flights in the area. There have been no reports that the group have been arrested or removed so far. If they are still there then they have been locked on for 7 hours now…
For the local campaign group perspective see below-
PRESS RELEASE FIGHT THE FLIGHTS – LONDON CITY AIRPORT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10 June 2009
FIGHT THE FLIGHTS RESPONSE TO PLANE STUPIDS ACTION AT LONDON CITY AIRPORT
Fight the Flights is not a direct action group, but we fully appreciate the frustration that the climate change activists feel in getting their voices, and concerns heard on aviation expansion, and how aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of CO2 emissions.
It is no wonder that some campaigners feel they are being pushed into taking non violent direct action because the system is failing people of their democratic rights to protect their communities, futures and their environment from harmful ‘runaway’ airport and flight expansion.
Just under a 100,000 residents in east and south east London will be affected by the increasing excessive noise levels from London City Airport upon expansion, and yet less than 10,000 were claimed to have been consulted by the London Borough of Newham. Most will not be entitled to any noise insulation. They will have to live with the consequences every day of their lives, each time a flight takes off and lands. The majority do not have the option to move, and many lived in the area long before the airports creation.
Benefits?
In just over 20 years the airport has only managed to directly employ 120 Newham residents out of the 406 directly employed staff the airport claim to employ.
London taxpayers have also paid £24million for the airports security provided by the Metropolitan Police over the past 5 years, which the airport refuse to pay.
In addition the air quality above London City Airport exceeds EU directive levels by 50% and was termed as ‘toxic’ but this was not acknowledged by the London Borough of Newham. In a borough which has the highest level of mortality in under 30s with asthma in the whole country, Newham should be focussing on improving air quality, not adding to the pollution by approving further expansion at this residentially situated airport in the most densely populated area of England.
Eroded Democracy
Residents have been constantly thwarted and ignored by this government and the London Borough of Newham when providing evidence against the expansion. Requests for a public inquiry into the planned 50% expansion of flights at London City Airport was refused by Hazel Blears, Secretary of State in 2008, whilst the London Borough of Newham showed no concern that 100s of homes in Greenwich will now be in the crash zone and failed to address the risk to residents and communities who live, work or travel through the crash zone in both Newham and Greenwich. However in contrast the government and council appear to consistently listen to the aviation at the expense of the communities: this is expansion at any cost.
With a government that does not listen to local concerns on the effects of expansion on third party safety, increasing pollution levels, the effect on residents health and children’s development, and the contribution to climate change, it is no wonder that we are seeing actions such as this more frequently.