Last Generation Climate Activists Disrupt Munich Airport Over Aviation Subsidies

“The government subsidizes the airline industry with more than 12 billion euros annually, mainly by waiving kerosene and VAT, meaning almost half of all flight tickets are financed exclusively by tax money,” the group said on social media.

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Six climate activists breached the grounds and glued themselves to a runway at the Munich Airport on Saturday, leading to numerous flight cancellations and delays on one of the year’s busiest travel weekends.

The protesters were part of Last Generation, a student-led climate group mainly active in Germany, Italy, and Austria. On social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the group shared photos and videos of the demonstration, showing the six activists sitting on the runway and holding banners; “The problem is the government. Not our holiday,” a sign read.

“The government subsidizes the airline industry with more than twelve billion euros annually, mainly by waiving kerosene and VAT, meaning almost half of all flight tickets are financed exclusively by tax money,” the group wrote on X.

Aviation is one of the most carbon-intensive industries in the world, accounting for about 2.5% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and has contributed an estimated 4% to global warming to date, when accounting for non-CO₂ forcings. Indeed, over 66% of aviation’s contribution to climate change is due to persistent contrails (or contrail cirrus) from jets, a non-CO2 effect. 

Until the Covid-19 pandemic hit, air traffic doubled every 15 years, and from 2013 to 2019, aviation emissions increased by 33%.

A 2022 report shows that to stay within the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5C of global warming, aviation emissions need to peak by 2025 and achieve net zero by 2030 – two decades earlier than the current roadmaps of the sector. This is, however, a highly unlikely event as 2024 will again see an estimated 40 million flights,  and over 70 million by 2035.

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“The airline industry must be shut down fairly! The government can no longer shift its responsibility away from itself and onto the consumption decisions of individuals,” said Regina Stefan, who joined the protest.

Founded by participants of a major hunger strike and public disruption that took place in the summer of 2021 in Berlin, Last Generation is known for its civil disobedience methods, such as road blockades – with protesters gluing themselves to roads or runways – and art desecration. The group is behind several attacks on museums, such as a stunt directed at Van Gogh’s “The Sower” painting on display in Italy’s capital Rome and at Monet’s “Meules” in Potsdam, Germany.

Flights Disrupted

The protest took place at the start of the Whitsun holiday, a peak travel time in Germany, with the Munich Airport expected to handle at least 350,000 passengers over the weekend. As a result, the airport was closed for two hours, with around 70 flights cancelled or diverted to other airpots. Police were quickly deployed to the scene and all protesters were arrested.

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Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser, who described the protest as a “criminal action,” called for increased security measures at airports, adding that such acts only harm climate protection and instead cause “contempt and anger.”

Last year, the German government cracked down on climate protests. In May, authorities raided 15 properties linked to Last Generation as part of an investigation into some climate campaigners, though no arrests were made.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Bavarian prosecutors revealed that they are investigating seven group members for allegedly forming or supporting a criminal organisation and raising about €1.4 million (US$1.5 million) to finance further criminal acts. Two members were also accused of attempting to sabotage the Transalpine oil pipeline in April 2022, a “critical infrastructure” that runs across the Alps, from Italy’s Trieste to the city of Ingolstadt in Bavaria.

According to the statement, the raids – which involved around 175 police officers across seven states – were connected to multiple complaints filed by members of the public since the middle of 2022. They came days after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described some climate protests as “completely nutty,” adding that he did not believe anybody’s opinion on climate change could be somewhat changed through public disruptions, which instead made people angry.

Featured image: Last Generation