For next to nothing to the far corners of Europe. Airlines at Eindhoven Airport are offering stunts with ticket prices and subscriptions. Parties in the city council are outraged about it. After all: the city has major climate ambitions. At the same time, administrators and politicians are also taking the plane themselves. “If you say something, you have to live up to it”.
Earlier this month, the Eindhoven coalition party GroenLinks (green left party) was astonished about the ‘all you can travel pass’ of airline Wizz Air. Unlimited flying for a year, for a competitive price. With the subscription, flights can be booked, for which there are still seats available, 72 hours in advance. According to the party, this raised questions about how consciously the trips are made. Moreover, every extra weight in the air causes more kerosene emissions. “It is incomprehensible that they offer this in this day and age”, GroenLinks council member, Bart Habraken, says.
The Eindhoven fraction of Partij voor de Dieren (party for the animals) supports this criticism. “We all know that we are in a climate crisis and that we all have to take major steps to combat global warming. And then an airline comes up with such a pass”, council member, Virginia Jonkers, says.
Role model
The Municipality of Eindhoven has major climate ambitions, in line with the coalition agreement that GroenLinks, PvdA (labour party), D66 (democrats) and CDA (christian democrats) concluded more than two years ago.
The municipality is also a shareholder of Eindhoven Airport, an important airport from which the Wizz Air company departs. Last month, research showed that of the flights that municipal administrators and civil servants made in 2022, half could have been made by train. This raises the question to what extent politicians and administrators should set a good example.
Habraken has also made many trips to countries that are difficult to reach by train, bus or car. “I am here as a politician, and I am not secretive about what I do in my private life. I am here to bring about a system change”, Habraken explains. Although he travels a lot, he is concerned with it in his private life, he says. “I know how harmful flying is. Research shows how much damage flying causes. That is why I have started flying less”.
Choices
D66 also supports the critical questions about the advertising campaign. “With this kind of action we are really going in the wrong direction”, council member, Annelies Becker, says. That is why she made certain choices during her summer vacation. “By bus to Zurich, by train to Milan, Venice and then by bus to Slovenia”, she says.
Guidelines
Parij voor de Dieren believes that the city council should set a good example. The opposition fraction wants clarification, following the investigation into the flying behaviour of Aldermen, Mayor and civil servants. After all, the municipality has the goal of reducing CO2 emissions. “If you say something, you should also live up to it”, Jonkers says. The party wants guidelines for the travels of administrators.
The Eindhoven faction of Forum for Democratie (FvD, forum for democracy) also asked council questions in July about the travels of the Eindhoven administration. “This is in strong contrast to the expectations that the board has of our residents. The board wants our residents to travel much more by bike and public transport, while they themselves and our civil servants apparently take the plane most often for short flights that could easily have been taken by train”.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
What about the people who have to travel far for holidays and to see their family? What WizzAir did is great for immigrant students and workers. Trains for long distance are more expensive and time consuming than airplanes (even local train lines are more expensive that with a car). Do they really think a sane person will sacrifice that comfort for the sake of climate change (crisis which is caused by major corporations and NOT the common folk!)? Absurd!
Perhaps people who can afford to travel to far destinations to visit relatives and can fly to holiday destinations on top of that cannot really be classified as ‘common folk’.