VIDEO. Climate: activists on the tarmac at Le Bourget to denounce private jet flights

“The rich fly, our future flies”, “Private jet = climate crime”: Friday January 21, ecology burst onto the tarmac at Le Bourget, north-east of Paris. After cutting part of the fence with a circular saw, a few activists dressed in white coveralls briefly entered the airport. In front of a private jet, they symbolically installed large panels bearing the image of Emmanuel Macron toasting champagne with a character wearing a top hat. At the same time, outside the airport gates, a few dozen other activists from Extinction Rebellion, Alternatiba Paris and Attac were crawling on the ground, covered in molasses symbolizing oil.

Le Bourget "is the symbol of the lifestyle of these super rich who do not travel by train or airliner but in their small private jets", declared to AFP "Efé", on behalf of the association of 'Extinction Rebellion. "With their way of life - and private jets are a glaring example - the rich mortgage the living conditions on Earth of the entire world population", added Charlène Fleury, spokesperson for Alternatiba Paris.

And “at the same time, the government prefers to emphasize individual gestures, wrongly placing climate responsibility on the middle and working classes, whose personal impact nevertheless appears to be weak”, insisted the three organizations in a press release.

They call on the government, which they accuse of "hypocrisy", to take "ambitious" measures so that the richest "pay the bill for the climate and health crisis".

In particular, they are calling for the French EU Presidency to press for the European plan to tax kerosene on internal flights in the EU to include private jets.

More generally, they argue for increased taxation of large estates.

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Le Bourget staff quickly removed the signs placed by the activists.

The Aéroports de Paris (ADP) group, manager of Le Bourget, indicated that air traffic had not been interrupted and denounced an action “which jeopardized aeronautical safety as well as that of the demonstrators themselves”.

The group said an activist had been arrested and told AFP its intention to file a complaint.

It is not the first time that environmental activists have targeted the airline industry, which is particularly under pressure to decarbonise.

Thus, in June 2020, around twenty Extinction Rebellion activists entered a runway at Orly airport, briefly interrupting the activity.

During an action in March 2021, Greenpeace activists had partially painted green an Air France Boeing which was parked on the tarmac at Roissy.