Hundreds of climate activists block private jets at Schiphol, some chained to planes | Abroad

Activists are under the wings and the fuselage, making it difficult to remove them. Dozens of people also pedal around the planes. The intention is not to allow any private flights to take off from Schiphol all day, a spokesperson told ANP. “Schiphol has to shrink considerably. It is not logical that so many private flights depart from the airport every day ”.

Meanwhile, many activists are being picked up from under the planes and taken from the airport on buses. There are still groups of about thirty people under most of the private jets. There is no hostile atmosphere.

Private planes fly to and from Schiphol from their own runway. Activists from Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace gathered this morning in the adjacent Amsterdamse Bos with banners and flags. On it were texts such as “SOS for the climate” and “Flights are no longer possible”. Another group arrived at the airport on the other side at the same time with bicycles. According to RTL Nieuws, the Schiphol parking gates have been opened.

Meanwhile, more than 100 protesters are also organizing a noisy “seating action” in the airport’s shopping mall. They make their message clear with drums and triangles: more trains, fewer planes. “We are unstoppable, another world is possible”, she feels. They are also calling for “climate justice”. Meanwhile, the sympathizers applaud.

The residents of Rotterdam airport also participate in the action. They are running a copyright campaign against growth plans. They fear a poorer living environment due to more noise pollution, more harmful emissions and less sleep.

Schiphol security is leaving activists alone in Schiphol Plaza for the time being. The guards keep an eye on things from a distance.

Data from the research agency CE Delft commissioned by Greenpeace show that more private flights took off from Schiphol and Rotterdam in the first nine months of this year than in all of 2019, the last year before the corona pandemic. According to flight data, more than a third of those flights were shorter than 500 kilometers and nearly 11% were even less than 250 kilometers. Emissions per passenger on a private flight are about five times higher than on a scheduled flight.