The German government has decided to tighten the law on aviation safety in order to prevent radical climate activists and others from carrying out dangerous actions at airports.
“Anyone who enters the airport grounds, sticks to taxiways and thus massively disrupts air traffic is not only risking their own lives,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Wednesday. Such incidents are also dangerous for many bystanders.
Transport Minister Volker Wissing said he hopes “this tightening of the law will deter activists and that there will be no disruptions during the current peak season.”
The core of the proposed reform, which still needs to be approved by the lower house of parliament (the Bundestag), is the introduction of a new provision that would criminalise “intentional, unlawful encroachment” on an airport’s apron and runways if it endangers the safety of civil aviation.
For example, anyone who cuts through a fence and then blocks a runway will in future face a prison sentence of up to two years or a fine. Attempts will also be punishable. Previously, only a fine was due in such cases.
Intentional, unauthorized entry into the part of the airport that experts call “airside” will in the future be punishable by up to five years in prison if someone is carrying a weapon or poisonous substances or if the aim is to facilitate or conceal another criminal offense.
Unauthorized actions by climate activists have taken place at a number of German airports, including Munich and Berlin.
