train instead of flight
France bans flights on very short routes
05/24/2023, 10:25 am
Short-haul flights are harmful to the climate and often unnecessary thanks to good rail connections. France now bans these by decree – but not all of them. Only certain domestic flights are affected.
France is playing a small pioneering role and is the first country in the world to ban short-haul flights, but only under certain conditions. According to a French government decree, domestic connections that can be reached by train in less than two and a half hours are affected. This applies to flights between Paris Orly and Nantes and Bordeaux and Lyon.
The French government’s goal is to reduce CO2 emissions from the transport sector. More sustainable travel options should also be promoted in this way. In this way, the country wants to make a contribution to global climate protection and also achieve its own climate goals. French transport politician Clément Beaune wrote on Twitter that the ban was an important signal.
In December 2022, the EU Commission approved the partial short-haul flight ban. At that time, the question was whether the project could be reconciled with European law. Since there is a clause there that allows transport bans, nothing stood in the way of the approval. According to an official journal of the EU, the measure is valid for three years. France is to submit a progress report one year before the deadline.
Few connections affected
There was also criticism of the project. On the one hand, associations of French and European airports stressed that the ban would lead to a distortion of competition. On the other hand, Greenpeace said the ban does not go far enough because it only affects a fraction of the approximately 100 domestic connections in France.
The measure itself is part of the catalog that the Citizens’ Climate Council presented in 2020. These were proposals, almost all of which French President Emmanuel Macron wanted to implement. What follows the short-haul flight ban is still open.