Business Aviation Braces for Brussels Eco-protests

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.”

A notice from Code Red has called for volunteers to prepare to join as-yet-unspecified protests around the Belgian capital. It said the "target” will be identified closer to the planned dates, and it offers civil disobedience training. Brussels National Airport seems likely to be a focal point.

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.