Germany’s busiest airport resumes operations after intrusion by climate activists

Berlin:

Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, has resumed operations after suspending flights on Thursday morning when several climate activists blocked the runways by sticking to the runway.

Planes were able to take off and land again, the airport said on its website, but passengers were still advised to check their flight status before departing for the airport.

A spokesman for Frankfurt, a major international transit hub and one of Europe’s largest airports, said around 140 flights had been canceled out of 1,400 planned on Thursday.

Climate activists Last Generation said in a statement that six protesters broke through a fence and arrived at various points around the Frankfurt airport runways with signs reading “Oil kills.” Images released by the group showed protesters wearing orange safety vests and with their hands glued to the road.

A Federal Police spokesperson said several climate activists were at the airport.

The group, which wants the German government to seek a global agreement to phase out oil, gas and coal by 2030, has listed several countries in Europe and North America where similar disruptions are planned as part of a protest campaign that started on Wednesday.

In Norway, around a dozen activists blocked part of the check-in area at Oslo Airport, on a second day of actions, but there was no disruption to flights to and from the Norwegian capital, an airport official said.

Germany’s Cologne-Bonn airport, the country’s sixth largest, suspended flights for several hours on Wednesday after climate activists glued themselves to a runway, while similar actions at other European airports were thwarted by authorities.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, whose ministry wants to punish unauthorized access to the airfield with up to two years in prison, called the action “dangerous, stupid and criminal.”

(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)