NBAA-BACE Is Prepared For Eco-Activists, Organizers Say

Following a year of intensifying environmental activism targeting business aviation, the sponsoring association and participants in the NBAA Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (BACE) say they are girded for any eco-protests that occur during the industry’s flagship event.

NBAA-BACE takes place Oct. 17-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with a static display of 49 business aircraft at Henderson Executive Airport, 14 mi. south of the city. Security is top-of-mind for the annual event, which has managed through challenging times before. Ten days before the 2017 conference in Las Vegas, a gunman opened fire on a music festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, killing 60 people, wounding hundreds and casting a pall over the city.

“Security and safety have always been top priorities for NBAA-BACE and all of the association’s events,” says Dan Hubbard, NBAA senior vice president for communications. “NBAA is coordinating security planning for NBAA-BACE in conjunction with law enforcement, security professionals, the convention center, airport officials and other parties to ensure a safe, secure and successful show in Las Vegas this year.”

In advance of the conference, sources reported no social media chatter or other indications of an impending demonstration. There were no announced plans or permit requests for sanctioned demonstrations.

Climate activist groups contend that business jets emit a disproportionate amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and primarily benefit the wealthy. Unsuccessful attempts by ShowNews to contact some groups suggests they are unwilling to engage or to discuss the industry’s use of sustainable aviation fuel or other steps it has taken to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

At the European Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (EBACE) in May, eco-protestors were provided with a sanctioned demonstration space outside the Palexpo conference center in Geneva. But attendees and organizers of the event, which NBAA co-hosts with the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), were taken aback when around 100 climate activists from Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion (XR) and Scientist Rebellion stormed the static display at nearby Geneva Airport.

The activists “chained themselves to aircraft gangways and the exhibition entrance in order to keep prospective buyers from entering,” according to a joint press release the groups issued following the incident. The demonstration forced the temporary closure of the airport, causing flights to be diverted, and damaged at least one aircraft.

Protests Proliferate In Europe

The EBACE action was one in a series of disruptions to business aviation facilities in Europe dating to September 2022, when activists from XR and Attac France blocked and spray-painted the Signature Flight Support FBO entrance at Paris Le Bourget Airport. This past September, 11 of the activists were sentenced in Bobigny criminal court to fines ranging from €300 to €500, Le Figaro reported. In the last year, eco-protesters have vandalized aircraft or disrupted airports in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the UK and the Netherlands.

Clients of MedAire, a provider of medical and travel security support services to the aviation and super-yacht industries, have taken notice of the trend.

“What we’re seeing from the customers is definitely increased concern about this over the last year,” MedAire CEO Bill Dolny says. “We’re getting a lot of operators asking for an in-depth analysis, recommendations, for key events they’re doing, where they may have three, four, five aircraft at one location and how they should be prepared. We’re definitely seeing this escalate not only in reality, but in the concern level, especially in a large operator’s mind. [It’s] mainly in Europe—we haven’t seen as much of it in the U.S.”

A relatively new organization that has appeared at demonstrations in the U.S. as well as in Europe is XR, known for flying colorful flags bearing the extinction symbol, an X-shaped hourglass within a circle representing the earth. Borne out of October 2018 protests in London, XR describes itself as a decentralized, international, politically non-partisan movement that uses non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to pressure governments to act on climate change.

In September, XR activists carrying multi-colored flags and banners blocked the entrance to the West 30th Street Heliport in New York City. Police dispersed the eco-protesters after 90 min., arresting six people.

The blockage mainly affected heliport tenant Blade Urban Air Mobility, which has plans to introduce Beta Technologies’ Alia electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft to its network of operators in 2025. Nevertheless, “electric helicopters won’t save us,” XR contended. Blade “has committed (in word only) to purchasing electric helicopters to replace their current fossil fuel-powered fleet,” the group said in a press release. “However, much like many other solutions being proposed to today’s climate chaos, simply electrifying wasteful, unnecessary transportation will not avert the catastrophes we’re already seeing.”

Fourteen people were arrested when climate activists blocked the parking lot at East Hampton Town Airport, on Long Island, New York, in July, some by linking their arms together with chains and PVC pipe. The activists were affiliated with New York Communities for Change, Reclaim Our Tomorrow and Sunrise Movement NYC, the East Hampton Star reported. Activists with Scientist Rebellion and XR’s Boston chapter blocked an entrance to FBO Atlantic Aviation at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts, in December 2022.

Assuming any known groups plan to demonstrate at NBAA-BACE, they appear to prefer the element of surprise. The Seven Circles Alliance, a coalition of activist groups that attempted to block the only route to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in August, as well as Greenpeace and XR’s Phoenix and Los Angeles chapters, did not reply when asked if they would be present in Las Vegas.

Private Aviation In The Crosshairs

Contacted after the demonstration at the West 30th Street Heliport, XR New York City spokesman Miles Grant said he couldn’t comment on any planned protests. Instead, he provided a quote from Charles Komanoff, a public policy analyst and prominent climate activist who participated in the brief blockade of the heliport.

“We must rein in business aviation now,” Komanoff stated. “Not just for its direct, per-flight carbon emissions, but because it demeans the hundreds of millions in the U.S. and billions worldwide who cannot afford private air travel but understand they are being lorded over and dumped on. There are myriad alternatives, from Zoom to commercial aviation and, over the longer term, creating a robust rail network to match those in China and the EU … While private aviation isn’t the only polluter, bringing it to heel can catalyze other change along a broad front.”

For their part, organizers and local authorities were careful not to divulge security precautions should a demonstration erupt at NBAA-BACE. The possibility of eco-protestors claiming the stage during sessions at the Las Vegas Convention Center—as was done at the EBAA’s AIROPS23 conference in Brussels in February—is among considerations. But the aircraft display at Henderson Executive Airport is thought to be “sexier” for climate activists seeking to make a splash.

“Business and general aviation is high profile, that’s why they’re being targeted,” says John Cauthen, MedAire security director for aviation and maritime. “It’s an easy way to garner attention. From a reputational perspective, if you are the target and you are high-profile, operating these types of assets, there could be associated reputational harm with that, not only at the flight department level but the organizational level. If it is a corporate flight department, for example, there may be a potential tie-back to that corporate entity.”

First among MedAire’s recommendations for operators generally is to understand the situation at airports or events they are flying into.

“If you know that there’s going to be a location where [an] incident has occurred previously, or there’s indication from local law enforcement or some other entity that says a group is active, you may want to choose an alternate airfield,” Cauthen says. “If there is no alternate, you can get 24-hr. man-guarding [of aircraft]. Make sure you’re parking your aircraft in a location that’s not as visible, that’s away from fence lines, away from prominent roads, at an FBO that’s maybe on the alternate side of the airfield away from the commercial side. There are a number of things you can do to provide some insulation from direct access.”

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) has a rapid-response unit called a Homeland Security Saturation Team that has been trained in defeating the locking devices eco-activists sometimes use. “The LVMPD is trained in how to respond to protests,” the department said in response to an inquiry. “Please reach out to the conference organizer regarding security for their event.” A spokesman for Clark County, Nevada, which owns and operates Henderson Executive Airport, also referred questions to NBAA.

Textron Aviation will display eight aircraft at the airport, including the new Beechcraft Denali turboprop single, which is making its NBAA-BACE debut. The manufacturer is prepared for disruptions, having trained its employees in dealing with eco-protesters before EBACE.

“We just prepped employees on what to do,” Textron Aviation CEO Ron Draper told The Weekly of Business Aviation. “We didn’t want to engage with [the EBACE protesters]. We just locked the airplanes and kept folks safe, and it ended up not being that big an event for us.”

Draper added: “NBAA is assuring us that security is going to be very high and that they’re doing whatever they can to prevent [disruptions]. But if somebody wants to do something, then we’ll be prepared to just keep our folks safe and keep our airplanes safe and not engage with them.”

BCA editors Lee Ann Shay and Molly McMillin contributed to this article.