Airport Demos Rock Europe

by Paul de Clerck and Jim Klingers

THE NETHERLANDS - On December 5, environmental organizations demonstrated at airports in 16 European countries to draw attention to the environmental consequences of air transport [See "Oil Spills in the Sky," Summer '97 EIJ]. The "Right Price for Air Travel" actions took place near airports in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and Greece and were timed to coincide with the start of the International Climate Conference in Kyoto, Japan.

Flying is more polluting than traveling by car. Jet aircraft currently contribute 3-5 percent of the world's global greenhouse gases and emit nitrogen oxides (NOx) that contribute to acid rain and, at high altitudes, degrade the ozone layer. Air traffic is growing astronomically. By the year 2015, the number of jet aircraft is expected to double, accounting for half of the annual destruction of the Earth's ozone layer.

The "Right Price for Air Travel" campaigners, upset that European governments keep the price of flying artificially low, want airline tickets and fuel bills to reflect their true environmental costs. Airplane tickets, jet fuel (kerosene) and the transport of goods by air are exempt from value-added taxes. Most European countries also subsidize the industry by building roads and rail lines to airports. Duty-free shopping is an added benefit.

People living near Europe's airports are more prone to asthma, cancer and heart and vascular diseases, while the risk of a plane crash near airports is approximately 400 times greater than an accident at a chemical plant.

No country in the world has set realistic environmental limits for air traffic. Safety criteria that apply to airports are often much less strict than those applied to other polluters. European countries tend to ignore aircraft pollution, because air traffic is a transborder problem. In the international arena, the rapid expansion of air traffic is only now coming to be seen as a serious environmental problem.

European activists have been fighting aircraft and airport growth for years. Recently, activists were able to prevent Flueghafen Duesseldorf, Germany's second largest airport, from using its new, second runway. In Manchester, activists slowed construction of a new runway by digging a network of tunnels beneath the runway site. Friends of the Earth Netherlands (FOEN) thwarted the expansion of Amsterdam's Schiphol airport by buying land on the site of a planned runway. (FOEN drew added attention to its cause by occupying a Schiphol runway, despite the fact that this airport is known worldwide for its tight security.)

Environmentalist/resident coalitions are fighting airport growth in London, Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Frankfurt, Berlin and Zurich. France's Green Party lobbied against the construction of a new airport near Paris and did well enough in recent elections to supply Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's government with a new Minister of Environment.

More than 50 environmental organizations in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Italy have petitioned the European Union to reduce the number of air flights over the Alps.

Soaring air traffic is becoming an issue in many former Eastern Bloc countries. In the Czech city of Brno, for example, citizens are alarmed at plans to expand local airport capacity from 40,000 passengers annually - to 30-40 million.

"The Right Price for Air Travel" is not a campaign against flying per se. For traversing long distances, there are no good alternatives for planes. But while trains, buses and ships are better alternatives for shorter distances, these modes of transport are at an unfair economic disadvantage.

While increased air traffic is a source of employment (an argument often used by growth advocates), jobs also can be created in more environmentally friendly sectors like education, electronic communication, public transport, sustainable technology and organic farming. Investments like these would benefit not only the economy but the quality of our entire society as well.

Meanwhile, individuals can help reduce the demand for new aircraft by choosing holiday destinations closer to home, by shipping fewer goods by air, and by using electronic communications and teleconferencing.

What You Can Do: For more information, contact: Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Vereniging Milieudefensie) PO Box 19199, 1000 GD Amsterdam, the Netherlands, (0031) 206-221366, fax: -275287, paul@milieudefensie.nl.