Activist group Just Stop Oil (JSO) is planning to target airports around the UK including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester in a summer campaign aimed at disrupting air travel.
The group, which pays volunteers for their activism, is planning to stage disruption inside airpot terminals and airside by glueing themselves to airport infrastructure and aircraft preventing people from jetting off on holiday.
If successful the plans could cost airport and airliners millions in lost revenue.
Its leaders are actively contacting members to join in with the plans to block runways and cause maximum for disruption for the travelling public in a bid to stop air travel, something it sees as a highly polluting form of travel.
As demonstrated by a widely shared image on twitter though, they aren’t adverse to a bit of air travel themselves, in particular, Indigo Rumbelow who is often used as a spokesperson for the group has taken trips to destinations including Nepal recently, some 9,000 miles by air.
Another activist, serial offender Phoebe Plummer, warned of “disruption on a scale that has never been seen before”
The randomness of JSO’s methods though could cause a major headache for airport security and whilst airports and airlines will plan in advance for these activists, it will always be largely reactive to the protests.
Their actions though could hold more significant consequences than blocking a road or glueing themselves to a building.
Article 240 of the Air Navigation Order says that “A person must not recklessly or negligently act in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft, or any person in an aircraft.” and of course airports are restricted areas.
Prison sentences of up to five years can be applied for endangering an aircraft, even longer if that results in injury or death.