Climate activists protest private jets at Geneva Airport

Over 100 people took part in the protest action, calling for a ban on private jets, Greenpeace International said on Tuesday. Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

Air traffic at Geneva Airport was suspended on Tuesday morning after climate activists protested near the runway at Europe’s biggest private jet fair. Several people attached themselves to private jets on display.

Dozens of climate activists carried out the protest action at Geneva Airport, where private jets are on display as part of the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE), Europe’s biggest private jet fair.

Air traffic was suspended for one hour from 11.40am for security reasons, the Keystone-SDA news agency reported.

Over 100 activists from Greenpeace, Stay Grounded Network, Extinction Rebellion, Scientist Rebellion and other climate organisations took part in the action, calling for a ban on private jets, Greenpeace International said on Twitter.

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They blocked the main entrance to the business aviation show, which is being held at the Palexpo exhibition centre near Geneva Airport.

Geneva police intervened quickly to remove the activists, some of whom were attached to private jets. A total of 80 people were arrested.

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The number of private and business jets has more than doubled globally over the past 20 years.

In 2022 a total of 35,269 private jet flights – approximately 100 per day – were recorded in Switzerland, according to a Greenpeace-commissioned surveyExternal link, cited in a reportExternal link by the Le Matin Dimanche/SonntagsZeitung newspapers. Switzerland was ranked sixth behind the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

On a per capita basis, Switzerland, with its population of 8.7 million, ranked second behind Malta with 4,054 flights per million inhabitants in 2022. Private jets fly about three times as often per capita here as in France or England – and almost six times as often as in Germany, Le Matin Dimanche/SonntagsZeitung reported.

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Private flights also have significantly higher emissions per passenger kilometre than other modes of transport. The Transport and Environment NGO calculates that private jets are five to 14 times more polluting per passenger than commercial flights, and 50 times more polluting than trains. Some private jets emit two tonnes of CO2 per hour, while the carbon footprint of inhabitants of the EU27 in 2022 was equal to 6.8 tonnes of per person in 2019, according to the Eurostat agency.

While climate activists have called for a ban on private jets, the Swiss industry association for private and business aviation underlines that private flights generate tens of thousands of jobs and billions of francs in added value.

According to the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), business aviation accounts for 2% of all air transport CO2 emissions, while air transport is responsible for just over 2% of global CO2 emissions.