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France abolishes short domestic flights to three destinations in favour of train travel

 




On 2 December 2022, the European Commisson approved the right for France to abolish flights between cities that are linked by train travel of less than 2.5 hours as part of the country’s 2021 Climate Law, announced Euronews. The ban, a first for European Union member states, will be valid for three years and then re-assessed. The use of private jets is being reviewed. 

 

Initially, the ban will only affect air travel between Paris Orly airport and Nantes, Lyon, and Bordeaux. Connecting flights will also be affected.

 

When the idea was first mooted, the Union of French Airports (UAF) and the European branch of Airports Council International (ACI Erurope) contested the move which prompted an in-depth European Commission investigation on whether to approve the idea or not. 

 

The Greenpeace France spokesperson said that the ban was a move in the right direction, but it was not ambitious and must go futher because only three routes were affected.   

 

The French government transport minister said he was proud that France is a pioneer in the policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although the 2021 Climate Law is in place, the short haul flight ban will take a while to be enforced because it needs to be submitted for public consultation and reviewed by the Council of State.

 

For private jets, the European federation for clean transport, called Transport and Environment (T&E),  published a report revealing that they are up to 14 times more polluting than commercial flights per passenger mile, and 50 times worse than trains. A review of the use of private jets may call for the imposition of taxes and/or restrictions, rather than a ban. France has the highest number of private jets in Europe, according to aviation data, with most flights traveling from Paris to the French Riviera. Private jets accounted for 10% of all departure flights in France in 2019, with half travelling less than 300 miles (483 kilometres).












 

 

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author  of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce  (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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