Protesters Halt Airport Operations Over Expansion Plans

Residents and activists have blocked the entrance to an airport in protest of expansion plans.

Farnborough Airport in Hampshire has submitted plans to increase its yearly flight capacity from 50,000 to 70,000 planes.

On Sunday, campaigners from Extinction Rebellion, Farnborough Noise, Blackwater Valley Friends of the Earth, Alton Climate Action Network, and local people blocked the main entrance with banners and colored smoke flares.

Rushmoor Borough Council has yet to decide on the anticipated increase in flights.

The protest follows a consultation session on Farnborough Airport's expansion proposals that ended on October 18.

Local neighbors and environmentalists have expressed resistance to the proposals.

The plans include expanding the airport's annual weekend flight capacity from 8,900 to 18,900 flights and its yearly flight limit from 50,000 to 70,000.

According to Extinction Rebellion, the 33,120 private jet flights to and from the airport in 2024 carried an average of 2.5 passengers, with each passenger emitting nine times as much carbon as an economy trip to the United States and twenty times that to Spain.

"For the limited benefit it provides to a small number of people, private aviation has a disproportionately large impact on climate change due to its high carbon emissions," said the agency.

Steve Williams, Waverley Borough Council's environment head, stated, "Aviation has no realistic prospect of becoming sustainable shortly, so any form of airport expansion is unacceptable, given the climate crisis."

Chris Neil of Shackleford, Surrey, said it was "unacceptable that a tiny number of very wealthy people grant themselves the right to fly in private jets, emitting enormous amounts of carbon."

The UK government has revealed plans to increase economic growth by expanding airports and using sustainable air fuel.

In January, Chancellor Rachel Reeves approved a third runway at Heathrow as part of a new plan to boost the UK economy.

She has also supported developments at Luton and Gatwick airports.