Privilege Style is a charter flight airline which was hired to carry out the UK government’s failed plan to fly certain people seeking asylum to Rwanda in June 2022. 

A charter flight happens when an entire plane is rented (not just one seat). 

As the result of campaigns carried out by survivors of torture and asylum and migrant rights’ organisations (such as the #StopTheFlights hashtag campaign), the airline has said that it is no longer planning to operate flights to Rwanda. This shows the enormous power that solidarity can generate – we must do everything to continue to harness it. 

The charter flight which was meant to take off in June 2022 cost £500,000 (of public money!). It was stopped by huge efforts from lawyers in the UK, and an injunction by the European Court of Human Rights. 

The Rwanda plan was introduced by former Home Secretary Priti Patel, and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April this year. It has been met with huge resistance by lawyers, campaigners, and international human rights organisations. The plan has not actually happened yet and no one has been sent to Rwanda, as the courts are currently deciding whether or not the plan is legal. 

The decision by Privilege Style is a big win for migrant justice in the face of the UK government’s Rwanda plan, because two other charter airlines that have carried out deportation flights in the past – Titan Airways and AirTanker – have already refused to take part in the plan. 

To learn more about the UK government’s Rwanda plan and the long court cases that are still yet to be decided, read our Legal Update on ‘The Inadmissibility Rules and Rwanda Plan Explained’.

To find out about the most recent updates on the Rwanda cases, read this article by the Free Movement blog.