Climate justice collective denounces route with 18 daily flights and calls for mobilisation “to stop the climate crisis and for more public transport for the people”
This morning, a Climáximo supporter disrupted the departure of a TAP flight from Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto to Lisbon. Due to the protest, the flight was delayed by about 20 minutes. Upon boarding the plane, he refused to sit down and take off, in protest against what he considers a “climate bomb” that “emits tonnes of carbon dioxide into the air of our country, on a route with road and rail alternatives that have comparable times and costs, and compromises the present and future of the people we love most”. Upon leaving the plane, the Climáximo supporter encouraged everyone to stop condoning attacks on our lives, such as short-haul flights.
Francisco Siqueira, spokesperson for the action, asks: “If a flight would not take off because of a bomb threat, why does it make sense to take off when its very existence threatens the lives of so many people?”, he goes on to say that “Aviation is the fastest and most unfair way to burn the planet, but there are no signs of reduction. Who does so much aviation serve? Certainly not the vast majority of people who suffer from a lack of free, quality public transport for their most basic needs, such as getting to work”. In a statement, Climáximo considers the 18 daily flights on the Porto-Lisbon route “an act of violence that must be stopped immediately – it could stop today”. Francisco also states that “TAP and the airlines operating these flights must be held accountable for releasing these carbon bombs. We need a free, electrified and efficient public transport system for everyone, not more planes crossing the sky”.
Exactly one week before the elections, the collective also points out that “halting the climate crisis is still not on the ballot, as evidenced by the consent of all parties to the decision to build a new airport in the midst of the climate crisis”. Therefore, they say, “it is necessary to build popular power to stop the climate crisis, for the right to the city, a country that is habitable for all people, free public transport for the people, the reduction of aviation to near zero by 2030, and no more projects that increase emissions – such as the expansion and creation of new airports.”
In this context, a protest called “Stop the planes” is planned for June 1st at Lisbon airport, with a meeting point at 3 p.m. at Alameda D. Afonso Henriques.