A French law banning domestic flights between two French cities when there is a train connection that takes less than 2.5 hours came into effect on Tuesday. The bill is part of the French approach to climate change. In addition, France also wants to restrict the use of private jets for short flights.
The law was already voted in 2021, but was first examined by the European Commission after protests from the Association of French Airports (UAF) and the European branch of interest group Airports Council International. It gave the green light in April of this year. On Tuesday, May 23, the law finally came into force.
According to the new law, it must be a regular, timely connection between the two cities in question. Travelers should be able to get there and back between the two cities in one day and spend eight hours at their destination.
Air France had previously canceled three routes of which the CO2 emissions would be too high. The routes in question all departed from Paris-Orly airport, towards Bordeaux, Lyon and Nantes. After all, those three cities can all be reached by high-speed train and the train ride is also faster than the plane.
However, according to critics, this is a symbolic measure, as only three connections will be deleted.
Citizen initiative
The French Civic Climate Convention, created in 2019 by President Emmanuel Macron, whose 150 citizens spent nine months developing a series of proposals to tackle climate change, came up with the proposal in 2020 and called for to cancel train journeys between destinations for which a train connection of less than four hours existed.
However, after headwinds from some French regions and from the airline Air France-KLM, members of parliament reduced that to 2.5 hours.
However, the French consumer organization UFC-Que Choisir had also insisted on keeping the limit at four hours. “On average, an airplane emits 77 times more CO2 per passenger than a train on these routes, even though the train is cheaper and the lost time is limited to 40 minutes,” the group said.
Private planes
France is also working on measures to limit the use of private jets for short-haul flights. According to French transport minister Clément Beaune, the country can no longer tolerate the very rich traveling in private jets while the average citizen cuts spending to tackle the energy crisis and climate change. What exactly the measures will entail is still unclear, but hefty taxes and stricter rules are likely.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss a thing of the stars.