Protesters holding a banner at Farnborough airport

Flying in the face of climate leadership: protesting private jets at Farnborough airport

June 11, 2025 by Extinction Rebellion

Residents, campaigners, pollution experts and politicians gathered again at Farnborough Airport on Sunday 1st June to protest proposed increases in private jet flights.

Protesters from Extinction Rebellion, Farnborough Noise, Scientists for XR, Greenpeace, Alton Climate Action Network, Friends of the Earth and Waverley Borough Council blocked the main entrance to Farnborough airport for two hours as part of an International Day of Actions targeting aviation worldwide.

Since Farnborough Airport Ltd submitted a Planning Application to significantly increase the frequency, size and operating hours of their private jet flights, opposition has grown and spread significantly throughout the political and resident community. MPs of different political parties in surrounding constituencies have formally voiced strong opposition to the proposed expansion.

Speaking at the protest, Paul Follows, Leader of Waverley Borough Council and leader of the Opposition at Surrey County Council, said, “Farnborough Airport is not about people or even planes, it’s about profit. The expansion will significantly increase noise and pollution; there isn’t even the pretence that economic growth can possibly be the driver. This is purely and simply about the greed of the airport – it’s the convenience of the wealthy at the expense of people and planet.”

Councillor Steve Williams, Portfolio holder for Environment and Sustainability at Waverley Borough Council, called out the expansion of any airport in a time of climate crisis as unjustified. He said, “This expansion at Farnborough Airport is not in the interests of local people at all and is the wrong thing to do in a climate crisis. The expansion of this airport, which is only going to benefit a very small proportion of the population, is totally unacceptable.”

Both Paul Follows and Steve Williams (below) vowed that Waverley Borough Council would continue to strongly oppose any expansion plans – in court if necessary – and will support Rushmoor Borough Council if they “throw out the planning application on strong planning grounds as we think they should”.

Dr Pete Knapp, air quality scientist, explained the health impacts of nitrogen dioxide and ultrafine particle pollution for local people. “The particles emitted by jet engines are very small, typically smaller than most viruses. They can travel large distances and have been recorded 20 km from an airport in distant residential areas.”

Nitrogen dioxide measured at Farnborough College is two and a half times above the World Health Organisation guidelines, increasing the risk of asthma and allergies, and even driving lower levels of academic achievement [1-3].

He listed the illnesses which studies have identified as associated with exposure to particles from jet engines – respiratory complaints in children, diabetes, dementia, increases in brain tumours and brain cancer [e.g. 4, 5]. “Increasing the number and weight of aircraft increases air pollution, which in turn will likely increase the health burden of people living up to at least 7 km away – there is no opt-out of air pollution. Any arguments for [economic] growth cannot be compared to creating your child’s asthma, your uncle’s stroke or your mum’s cancer.”

Colin Shearn, founder of Farnborough Noise Group, highlighted misinformation and missing information in the partial, one-sided arguments used by Farnborough Airport Ltd in their so-called ‘business case’. He said that the airport has not considered any balancing costs as a result of the airport’s expansion, such as excess deaths, stress and ill health, pollution and house price loss.

Colin Shearn noted that both Hampshire County Council and Rushmoor Borough Council had declared a Climate Emergency in 2019, with the legal onus on these councils to offset carbon dioxide emissions from Farnborough Airport expansion. He calculated that to offset the emissions from the proposed private jet flights, you would need to find an equivalent of banning all vehicles across the entire county’s public roads!

Colin pointed out that Farnborough Airport Ltd is part owned by Macquarie, who also used to own Thames Water [6]. The CEO of Farnborough Airport, Simon Geere, was CEO of Macquarie UK for 17 years until 2020. Thames Water and Farnborough Airport have a track record of using mounting debt to pay dividends to Macquarie [7]. Currently the airport is paying dividends of £50 million per year with debt running at around £550 million. The expansion plans would enable an increase in debt in order to continue to pay dividends.

To round off the protest, Extinction Rebellion local group Waverley & Borders speaker Nancy Clarke encouraged people saying, “There are millions of us around the world fighting this battle – be an activist, don’t give up, have hope.”