Hundreds of climate activists block private jets at Amsterdam Schiphol

Around 500 climate activists of Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace (Nederland) are blocking the departure of private jets at the airport of Amsterdam Schiphol, The Netherlands. Some of them have chained themselves to the aircraft. Dutch Marechaussee has started to remove them from the tarmac.

The aim of the protest is to completely ground all private jet traffic, a spokesperson of the protest said. While the airport (Schiphol) has to reduce flights, it’s illogical that so many private jets are taking off, one demonstrator said.

Private jets are using a dedicated runway. First, the activists gathered near “Amsterdamse Bos” but then broke through or used ladders to climb over the airport’s fence. Another group arrived by bike and drove onto the tarmac.

Meanwhile, protesters are being removed from under the wings and fuselage, a difficult task for the Marechaussee. “Freed” activists are bussed away from the tarmac.

Figures from 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 the whole of 2019, the last year before the corona pandemic.

According to flight data, more than a third of those flights were shorter than 500 kilometres and almost 11 percent were even shorter than 250 kilometres. Emissions per passenger on a private flight are about five times higher than on a scheduled flight.

Another group of activists protested inside the airport’s terminal: