A subsidiary of Lufthansa, Eurowings, has taken to sending a bill of €120,000 to a total of six climate activists.
The reason cited for this action is that the activists trespassed onto the airfield of the Brandenburg Airport in Berlin in November of the previous year.
Due to the trespassing, the airport reported that its passengers suffered due to the number of flights being canceled or delayed.
The incident
It was reported that the climate activists had managed to cut through fences and break into several restricted areas within the airport.
As a result, the police were engaged, and the culprits were removed from the area designated for takeoff.
Consequently, Eurowings has given the six climate activists up until the middle of October to settle their bill totaling €120,000.
If the activists fail to pay the amount demanded by the subsidiary, they will have to go up against legal action taken by the entire Lufthansa Group airlines.
Protests
On the 24th of November, 2022, the protest from the activists halted operations for no less than two hours at the Brandenburg Airport in Berlin.
As a result, ten flights were canceled, and one had to be diverted to Leipzig. Meanwhile, 21 delays in flights had a significant impact on several airlines, like Swiss, Eurowings, Lufthansa, and Austrian.
One of the activists involved in the protest was Lina Schinköthe, who released a statement to justify her actions of breaking and entering into the airport.
According to her, everyone is going to suffer as a result of the climate catastrophe. She further added that those who are least responsible tend to get hit the hardest.
In her words, society cannot afford to be as ruthless as airlines and take action to mitigate the climate crisis.
The incident that took place in November 2022 was not the first or the last of such protests.
Just a couple of months later, the activists returned in May and took to spray painting a private plane.
Releasing a statement later, these activists claimed that they carried out this task to raise awareness of the environmental impact that air travel has.
Meanwhile, in July 2023, activists belonging to Last Generation, a German climate group, decided to glue themselves to runways located at Düsseldorf and Hamburg airports.
Due to this series of repeated actions, the police’s patience started to wear thin, and the authorities decided to take strict action.
The police
Recently, an activist belonging to Last Generation was sentenced to jail for eight months. His crime was a street protest.
On the other hand, the people involved in the protests carried out at the airport were liable to pay a fine of €1,600 each.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa decided to seek significant compensation for the damages that resulted from the protests at the airport.
A spokesperson talked about the matter on behalf of the airlines, saying that the recurring damages have forced their hand and that they need to take action to discourage such incidents in the future.
