Climate protester lies on plane in disruption at London City Airport
- Last updated: October 10, 2019 | 18:55
Climate change activists caused delay at the London City Airport, by laying on top of a plane and forcing a jet to turn around on the runway, on Thursday.
Protest organizers Extinction Rebellion had vowed to occupy the airport's terminal and shut down operations for three days as part of its action in the British capital.
London City is the capital's fifth-biggest - and most central - airport, popular with business travelers, bankers and politicians for short-haul and regional routes.
A Reuters photographer saw one man, former Paralympic cyclist James Brown, lay himself across the top of the body of a British Airways Embraer 190 jet.
A spokeswoman for BA said "we are investigating what happened as a matter of urgency".
Police officers arresting one of the activists.Reuters
The group said they were protesting plans to expand the airport, which aims to have 6.5 million passengers a year by 2022 compared to the 4.8 million in 2018, and which has said there could be demand for as many as 11 million by 2035.
An Aer Lingus plane was forced to stop taxiing and return to its gate when a passenger got up to give a speech about climate change.
Extra security measures at the airport meant that most of the protesting happened well away from the runway.
Protesters glued themselves to the terminal building, occupied a nearby Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station and blocked roads around the airport.
Police have made hundreds of arrests so far this week as the protesters have sought to shut down London with two weeks of civil disobedience.
"We continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to ensure the safe operation of the airport, which remains fully open and operational," a spokesman for London City Airport said.
The airport said it is "committed to building a more sustainable future for the airport and the aviation industry" and has said it will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. British Airways owner IAG also pledged on Thursday to meet that emissions target.
Reuters