Bethany Rielly
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EXTINCTION REBELLION activists blocked the entrance to Luton’s private jet terminal this morning to call for the government to ban private planes.
In an action timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day, activists used a blue boat, named after the late environmentalist and lawyer Polly Higgins, to block “all three gates” to Luton Airport’s Signature Terminal.
Another group blocked the entrance to the Harrods Aviation Terminal, with activists locked onto two oil barrels, the group said. Others wore pink vests reading “love in action.”
Extinction Rebellion said that it launched the protest on Valentine’s Day due to the rise in the use of private jet flights as dates for the occasion.
The group is demanding the government ban private jets and introduce a tax for frequent flyers.
“Valentine’s Day should not have to cost the Earth, or the taxpayer,” climate activist Todd Smith, a former airline pilot, said.
Another activist, Nigel Harvey, 60, a recycling company chief executive, said: “Extinction Rebellion and other climate activist groups are often criticised for disrupting the lives of ‘normal working people’ – well it should be clear that owning a private jet isn’t normal.
“This is a targeted action – we’re disrupting only the top 1 per cent: the highest-income, highest emitters who are most responsible for pollution and have the most power to affect changes.”
Private jets are around 10 times more energy-intensive per passenger than commercial planes with a four-hour flight emitting as much as the average person does in an entire year, the group said. Despite this, private jet use remains subsidised and untaxed.
The protest is part of a series of global coordination actions against private jet use. On Tuesday, activists in Belgium crashed a private jet conference in Brussels and blocked a terminal at the capital city’s airport.
Luton Airport said in a statement that the XR protest had ended by the afternoon and had “no impact on any of our operations.”
Last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was criticised for his “recklessly expensive habits” after taking three domestic journeys in an RAF jet in under 10 days.
