
Business Aviation Braces for Brussels Eco-protests
Potentially violent demonstrations are expected between December 15 and 17.
Business aircraft owners and operators, as well as airlines, are bracing for potentially violent protests expected in Brussels between December 15 and 17. A consortium of political groups operating under the name Code Red has called for a “weekend of mass action against aviation.”
The Code Red alliance includes groups commonly associated with protests against air transport and private aviation, including Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace. Other groups with wider political agendas are sponsoring the event, including anti-capitalist and poverty action organizations.
On December 6, eco-protesters from a Portuguese group called Climáximo broke into Cascais-Tejo Regional Airport. According to local media reports, they damaged a Bombardier Global Express with paint and chained themselves to its wheels. In an incident that mirrored multiple similar events in Europe this year, the protestors said they intended to “denounce the luxury flights of the super-rich and the criminal hypocrisy of world leaders traveling to the COP28 [climate change conference] in a mode of transport that is the pinnacle of climate injustice.”
Police were called to the Portuguese airport but it is unclear what action was taken.