Brussels validates the end of short flights in France


The Commission maintains the status quo for connecting domestic flights.

Air France and the long-haul companies that rely on their provincial passengers to fill their planes can breathe. The air links made from or to Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport and those of Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon or Rennes in the context of a connection have escaped the ax of the European Commission: they can be maintained, just like those between Lyon and Marseille.

Brussels has just validated a device of the French climate law dating from 2021. This had on the one hand prohibited domestic flights when there was a rail alternative in less than two and a half hours, and on the other hand accepted derogations for connections at Roissy.

“The measure which has been validated by the European Commission will prohibit domestic air links when these can be replaced by direct rail links, in less than two and a half hours, allowing a time to destination of eight hours, with sufficient frequencies and satisfactory schedules, that is to say without loss of level of service in relation to the aircraft”, specified the general directorate of civil aviation after the opinion given by the Commission. This choice will have to be reconsidered after three years. At that time, the case of connecting flights will also be studied, said Brussels.

The Brussels decision, says Clément Beaune, the Minister of Transport, “will make it possible to launch new stages in the effective banning of airlines when there is an alternative of less than two and a half hours by train”. The climate law had already led to the abolition of connections between Orly airport and Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon.

Combining a train ticket and a plane ticket will therefore become an essential service. But the initiative is not new. Twenty-five years ago, the SNCF set up a TGV service for passengers taking a connection in Paris. Since then, the rail company serving Charles-de-Gaulle airport has established partnerships with a dozen airlines (Air Caraïbes, Corsair, Qatar Airways, etc.) and especially with Air France, the leading company departing from CDG. Air France managers say that some customers, sensitive to climate issues, prefer to take the train for short distances.

Competitors on the service of domestic lines, generally for the benefit of the TGV, Air France and the SNCF ended up learning to work together. They are setting up a “digitalized” service to make life easier for passengers: a single reservation, a single electronic ticket for the entire journey. Each year, three million travelers take the train to reach the two Parisian airports, according to the SNCF. The company aims to sell 600,000 combined Train + Air tickets per year within five years.



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