The ban on French domestic flights was voted into effect in April 2021, and banned any flight where the distance culd be travelled by train in less than two-and-a-half hours.
It was put into effect later in the year but was challenged at an EU level by airport operators.
However the European Commission has now published its decision where it not only approved the ban, but removes an exemption for connecting flights. The decision could pave the way for other European countries to follow France’s lead.
How does the ban work?
Flights are banned if there are several daily direct trains available for the same journey, and the train ride can be done in two-and-a-half hours or less.
This means that the following flights have been scrapped;
- Paris Orly-Lyon
- Paris Orly-Bordeaux
- Paris Orly-Nantes
Paris-Nice (six hours by train), Paris-Toulouse and Paris-Marseille (both between three and four hours by train) will continue as usual.
The original French law contained an exemption for connecting flights, but the Commission has ruled that this unfairly favours certain airlines.
Why?
The law is part of a far-reaching climate bill proposed by the French Climate Convention – La Convention citoyenne pour le climat – set up to help the French government reach its goal of reducing carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
The full bill is called Projet de loi sur la lutte contre le dérèglement climatique (Bill on the fight against climate change) and aims to decrease climate gas emissions by targeting several aspects of daily life, from travel to work to housing and agriculture.
It is a watered-down version of the initial Citizen Council’s proposal, which wanted to abolish flights that could be replaced by a train trip of less than four hours.
The law does not apply to flights by private jet, and the Paris-Saint-Germain football team found themselves at the centre of an outcry when they were pictured taking a private jet to a match in Nantes – just two hours away by train.
France’s national rugby team have entered into a partnership with SNCF and post pictures of their players laughing, relaxing and playing cards together as they travel to matches by train.
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Bloody ridiculous but typical of the inexperienced children in the present Government.
Why only domestic.? Paris to London takes only 2hours 17minutes by train.
well – what can you say – the early train from Bordeaux to Paris arrives after all the flights to the UK (and many other european destinations) have left, as a result you need to hang around for hours waiting for the evening flights – so that would also need to be addressed with the complete renegotiation of flight slots.
Secondly the train is expensive and more often than not late –
thirdly you have to make two bookings – one for the train one for your flight – if there is a problem with one there is no obligation on the other to assist you on getting to your destination
fourthly and finally – it is cheaper to go from bordeaux to amsterdam and then fly to the uk than to get to Paris and fly to the UK – thus increasing carbon emissions
you could not make it up