Flights were cancelled at Stansted Airport yesterday Monday Dec 8th due to environmental protesters. One of the flights affected was a Stansted Airport to Cork Airport flight. The runway which was affected served mostly short haul European flights.
There were several Irish flights affected. The 7.45am flight to Cork Airport was cancelled as was the 6.35am flight to Shannon Airport and the 6.25am flight to Dublin Airport.
Protesters attached themselves to fencing. There have been reports of 39 arrests so far. The environmental group Plan Action was responsible for the protest. In a statement release Plan Action said that the protest was aimed at preventing the release of greenhouse gas emissions. The group vowed to use whatever peaceful means were possible.
The runway was eventually closed for security purposes. The protest began at 3am when security was broken by an unknown number of people. 52 flights had to be cancelled by Ryanair including services to Porto, Berlin, Oslo and Gdansk.
Long delays were experienced by passengers due to the protests.