2006 round-up

In a year, Plane Stupid has become one of the direct action groups of the emerging grassroots climate movement in Britain. Our dramatic impact has come by means of a series of high-profile direct actions and a near obsessive focus on clear, basic demands that people understand: the scrapping of airport expansion plans, a tax on aircraft fuel and plane tickets, and an end to unnecessary and unsustainable short haul flights.

With arguments rooted in the science from the Tyndall Centre and Oxford University, our role has been to peacefully force - and to empower and inspire others to force - action against the root causes of emissions from what constitutes the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases.

In just a year, we have disrupted the world's largest international aviation industry conference in Central London; grounded planes through the occupation of a taxiway at the short-haul East Midlands Airport; blocked the entrance to BAA's headquarters at Heathrow; staged a roof-top protest at easyJet's corporate headquarters in London; and temporarily shut down tens of travel agents across the UK. We also inspired and oversaw Britain's first national day of action against short haul flights, which saw local groups hold demonstrations at six regional airports and outside Flight Centre travel agents in cities across the UK.

For our activities, we have shot into the headlines with a twenty-minute feature on Newsnight; interviews on shows including The Today Programme and Tonight with Trevor McDonald; and cover-story features in New Statesman and Marketing Weekly Magazines. We continue to be swamped with hundreds of media calls and are the focus of two documentaries to be aired in the New Year.

Our role has not been to overlap with other groups who have entered into discussions with industry and government; nor has it been to research sustainable alternatives to air travel. Plane Stupid should complement the work of these NGOs that are established and expert in the areas of conventional campaigning and lobbying, while remaining distinctive, focussed, direct-action orientated, and different.

John Stewart, Chair of AirportWatch, explained:

"Plane Stupid is playing a crucial role as part of the aviation protest movement. Its focus on putting across clear, uncluttered messages through the means of direct action is both reaching audiences that the more conventional groups find it harder to tap into and is putting a new form of pressure on government and the aviation industry.

"Many of us are in regular contact with Plane Stupid. We exchange ideas and strategies and ensure that our activities complement each other. Plane Stupid has become an essential part of the jigsaw of people and organisations that are calling for a new approach to aviation - large NGOs, airport campaign groups, individual environmentalists as well as sympathetic academics, politicians and local authorities."

Peter Lockley, a campaigner with the Airport Environment Federation (AEF), commented:

"Our methods vary but our message is the same - that the Government's current aviation policy is totally unsustainable. As an organisation working through established channels of lobbying we share their frustration at Government inaction and we warmly welcome the renewed sense of urgency they bring to the issue."

Author and journalist, Mark Lynas, said:

"It really is astonishing - the contribution that Plane Stupid and the rising direct action movement has made to raising awareness of the climate impacts of cheap flights"

Our work has also complemented others' more directly. For example, our spokespeople have appeared on platforms with people from Transport 2000, Stop Climate Chaos, The Green Party, AirportWatch, Campaign Against Climate Change, and People & Planet; our logo has also appeared on adverts in national newspapers alongside groups including Greenpeace, AEF and enough's enough; and we have held well-attended workshops at the AirportWatch Conference; the Camp for Climate Action at Drax; at university student unions across the country; with local residents associations near Heathrow; and even at a Liberal Democrat Regional Conference!

So where now?

Easyjet will next year launch a 'greenwash' marketing strategy and Ryanair instead have chosen to launch all out attacks on the green movement at large. Prompted by Plane Stupid's national day of action against short haul flights on November 6th, Marketing Weekly quotes one PR guru as saying that short-haul budget airlines are about to face the same problem coal did in the 1980s because they are "unnecessary and outdated and therefore facing decline".

In 2007, Plane Stupid will remain focused on its three key demands. We want airport expansion plans scrapped; a tax on aviation fuel and plane tickets; and an end to short haul flights. We hope that you'll join us in making it happen.