In the middle of the holiday season, climate activists from the Last Generation group shut down the airports in Hamburg and Düsseldorf for several hours. Air traffic at Hamburg Airport was completely suspended for a few hours on the first day of vacation. Climate activists had gained access to the site early in the morning and taped themselves near the runways. The airport resumed operations around 10 a.m. Because of a similar action at Düsseldorf Airport, several flights were diverted or delayed there.
In Hamburg, flight operations resumed at 9:50 a.m., almost four hours after the blockade began. The central security control and the check-in counters in the terminals are open again. According to the current status, 17 arrivals and 19 departures have been cancelled. Ten incoming planes were diverted to other airports.
The flight schedules of the airlines have been mixed up properly, said airport spokeswoman Katja Bromm. There will therefore be delays and flight cancellations throughout the day. 330 take-offs and landings with 50,000 passengers were planned for the start of the holiday season. Several arrival flights from Düsseldorf Airport were diverted to Cologne/Bonn Airport, and departures were delayed. The northern runway was released again at around 7.30 a.m. An airport spokeswoman was initially unable to say how many flights were affected by the protest.
Activists of the last generation had repeatedly blocked roads and sometimes stuck themselves. They call for a much more decisive approach by politicians to climate protection. A key demand of the federal government is the convening of a randomly selected company council. According to the group, the committee should develop measures to ensure that Germany can end the climate-damaging use of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Sentiment against the actions of the last generation is increasingly heated. In Stralsund in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, an activist was hit by a truck on Wednesday. According to the police, a 41-year-old truck driver had pulled three climate protesters who were blocking traffic off the road and threatened to hit them. He got behind the wheel and pulled away briefly. A young demonstrator who was sitting on the road to the right in front of the bumper was pushed about a meter forward. According to police, no one was seriously injured. A court is examining the suspension of the driver’s license for the truck driver.
Flying is by far the most climate-damaging type of travel. According to the Federal Association of the German Air Transport Industry, the demand for air travel in Germany increased sharply at the start of the summer season compared to the previous year. This summer, a level of around 85 percent of 2019 will be reached – the year before the start of the Corona crisis.
The environmental protection activists wrote on Twitter about the actions: “We protest against the planlessness and the government’s breach of the law in the climate crisis.”
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing sharply criticized the actions. “These dangerous interventions in traffic must come to an end. What the last generation is doing is not climate protection but crime,” said the FDP politician to the “t-online” news portal. The demonstrators did climate protection itself a disservice. “Anyone who spoils others’ well-deserved and long-awaited annual leave contributes to the division of our society,” Wissing continued. The rule of law must take tough action here.
Wissing’s party colleague, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, made a similar statement. “Many people are looking forward to their well-deserved vacation. If @AufstandLastGen takes away this joy, it undermines the acceptance of more climate protection,” Buschmann wrote on Twitter. The “blockers” would have to reckon with criminal consequences and, if necessary, “with claims for damages worth millions”.
Passengers affected by delays and cancellations have certain rights. In the case of flight cancellations, the following applies: passengers can still insist on being transported – even if it is at a much later point in time. Alternatively, they can ask for the money for the ticket back. So you have a choice here.
What makes things look bleak about the disruptions by Last Generation activists, however, are the prospects for additional reparations. In all probability, the protests are an extraordinary circumstance because the airlines are not responsible for the resulting flight cancellations themselves, according to Claudia Brosche from the passenger rights portal Flightright.
Editor’s Note: This article has been extensively updated since it was first published.
