Frankfurt Airport Chaos: Climate Activists’ Runway Protest Grounds Flights And Sparks Controversy

Germany’s largest airport, Frankfurt, faced major disruptions on Thursday when climate activists staged a protest by gluing themselves to the runways. As a result, the airport had to suspend both arrivals and departures. Frankfurt, a key international gateway and one of the busiest airports in the country, urged passengers to check their flight statuses amid the “ongoing demonstration.”

Operations at Frankfurt Airport resumed and all four runways were back in use a few hours later. However, an airport spokesperson reported that approximately 140 out of the 1,400 scheduled flights were canceled due to the disruption.

The climate activist group Letzte Generation (The Last Generation), which organized the protest, issued a statement detailing their actions. They explained that six members used pincers to cut openings in the airport’s wire fence before proceeding to various points around the runways on foot, bicycles, and skateboards. The protesters also displayed banners on the tarmac proclaiming, “Oil kills.”

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, whose ministry is advocating for up to two years in prison for unauthorized access to airfields, condemned the demonstration as “dangerous, dumb, and criminal.”

READ MORE: Brazil’s Bold Tax On Billionaires Sparks Heated Debate At G20 Summit

“These acts must be punished more severely. We have proposed severe prison sentences,” she said in a post on X.

Police reported that eight individuals were detained following the protest, according to the German news agency dpa.

The activist group Letzte Generation (The Last Generation), which demands a global transition away from oil, gas, and coal by 2030, has announced plans for similar disruptions in multiple countries across Europe and North America.

Part of the A22 Network, a coalition of groups dedicated to non-violent climate action, Letzte Generation is preparing to target airports in several nations in the coming months.

Research from Our World in Data indicates that global aviation accounts for approximately 2.5 percent of global carbon emissions and contributes around 4 percent to global warming.

Thursday’s protest followed similar actions at various European airports, including London’s Heathrow, where several activists were arrested the previous day. At Vienna Airport in Austria, four activists poured an orange substance in a terminal while holding signs that read, “Oil kills.” On Wednesday, activists also briefly disrupted operations at Cologne-Bonn airport by gluing themselves to a runway.

Activist Ronja Kuenkler stated that Wednesday’s protest was only the beginning but declined to confirm whether any actions were planned for the Paris 2024 Olympics, which start on Friday.

(With inputs from online sources)

ALSO READ: Obama Set To Endorse Harris As Democrats Gear Up For Nomination Process