CLIMATE
France bans short-haul flights
France is the first country to ban short-haul flights. For the Greens, however, the measure does not go far enough, because harmful emissions are only minimally reduced as a result.
Stefan Brändle
June 1, 2023, 09:00
Paris - Those who can take the train should no longer use the plane: Following this motto, the French government is banning certain air routes between cities that can be reached comfortably and without changing trains. "This measure is a world first," Transport Minister Clément Beaune rejoiced Tuesday. "It is part of our efforts to promote the use of climate-friendly means of transport."
Specifically, three scheduled flights from Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon to Paris-Orly will be cancelled. There is a TGV train connection of less than two and a half hours between these cities. This is the main criterion for the cancellation of the flights. A 150-member citizens' assembly convened by President Emmanuel Macron to prepare a climate law had gone further in 2021: It also wanted to cancel flights to destinations that could be reached in a four-hour train ride. This would have affected eight cities, including the Mediterranean city of Marseille, which can be reached from Paris in a three-hour TGV ride.
However, airport operators had filed a lawsuit because of the restriction on freedom of movement. The French Council of State and the EU Commission in Brussels finally approved the criterion of two and a half hours of alternative train travel time. The green party EELV said the new ban was useless because the three affected lines had already been discontinued. Beaune countered that this showed the effectiveness of the measure: "These routes were not cancelled by the Holy Spirit, but because the flight ban was approaching," he noted this week via Twitter.
However, "Citizen's Collective 06," which operates on the Côte d'Azur, accuses Beaune of deliberately sparing busy routes such as Nice-Paris or Marseille-Paris, which require a TGV journey time of three to five hours. Macron's new measure is a "masquerade" and thus a prime example of hypocritical "greenwashing".
For their part, transport experts point out that the two-and-a-half-hour criterion would still allow flights between Bordeaux or Nantes and Roissy Airport in Paris. In fact, from Bordeaux to the international terminals of Roissy, the TGV takes more than three hours. Beaune justifies this exceptional case by saying that entire cities cannot be deprived of connections to worldwide destinations. International connections via the international Air France hub in Roissy are excluded from the ban anyway.
Only minus 0.23 percent
Climate activists complain that the short-haul flight ban that has now been enacted will only reduce CO2 emissions by 0.23 percent of total air traffic in France. Beaune knows the answer to that, too: the new route ban is just a start, and the government prefers airlines to close routes themselves before the ban takes effect. "But of course we have to go further," the transport minister added. "We will include more and more lines by increasing the alternative travel time by TGV to three hours, for example. This should close more lines."
In Vienna, Austrian Airlines has already committed to shifting the Salzburg-Vienna Airport route to rail, which takes three hours. The same is planned for Graz.
Pressure is also mounting for private jets. Austria, France and the Netherlands have written to the EU Commission these days to restrict air travel in private jets. Beaune explained that both flight restrictions and higher taxation of private air travel are conceivable, both at national and European level. EU transport ministers plan to discuss the issue on Thursday. (Stefan Brändle from Paris, 6/1/2023)
S | A
Stefan Brändle
June 1, 2023, 09:00
Paris - Those who can take the train should no longer use the plane: Following this motto, the French government is banning certain air routes between cities that can be reached comfortably and without changing trains. "This measure is a world first," Transport Minister Clément Beaune rejoiced Tuesday. "It is part of our efforts to promote the use of climate-friendly means of transport."
Specifically, three scheduled flights from Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon to Paris-Orly will be cancelled. There is a TGV train connection of less than two and a half hours between these cities. This is the main criterion for the cancellation of the flights. A 150-member citizens' assembly convened by President Emmanuel Macron to prepare a climate law had gone further in 2021: It also wanted to cancel flights to destinations that could be reached in a four-hour train ride. This would have affected eight cities, including the Mediterranean city of Marseille, which can be reached from Paris in a three-hour TGV ride.
However, airport operators had filed a lawsuit because of the restriction on freedom of movement. The French Council of State and the EU Commission in Brussels finally approved the criterion of two and a half hours of alternative train travel time. The green party EELV said the new ban was useless because the three affected lines had already been discontinued. Beaune countered that this showed the effectiveness of the measure: "These routes were not cancelled by the Holy Spirit, but because the flight ban was approaching," he noted this week via Twitter.
However, "Citizen's Collective 06," which operates on the Côte d'Azur, accuses Beaune of deliberately sparing busy routes such as Nice-Paris or Marseille-Paris, which require a TGV journey time of three to five hours. Macron's new measure is a "masquerade" and thus a prime example of hypocritical "greenwashing".
For their part, transport experts point out that the two-and-a-half-hour criterion would still allow flights between Bordeaux or Nantes and Roissy Airport in Paris. In fact, from Bordeaux to the international terminals of Roissy, the TGV takes more than three hours. Beaune justifies this exceptional case by saying that entire cities cannot be deprived of connections to worldwide destinations. International connections via the international Air France hub in Roissy are excluded from the ban anyway.
Only minus 0.23 percent
Climate activists complain that the short-haul flight ban that has now been enacted will only reduce CO2 emissions by 0.23 percent of total air traffic in France. Beaune knows the answer to that, too: the new route ban is just a start, and the government prefers airlines to close routes themselves before the ban takes effect. "But of course we have to go further," the transport minister added. "We will include more and more lines by increasing the alternative travel time by TGV to three hours, for example. This should close more lines."
In Vienna, Austrian Airlines has already committed to shifting the Salzburg-Vienna Airport route to rail, which takes three hours. The same is planned for Graz.
Pressure is also mounting for private jets. Austria, France and the Netherlands have written to the EU Commission these days to restrict air travel in private jets. Beaune explained that both flight restrictions and higher taxation of private air travel are conceivable, both at national and European level. EU transport ministers plan to discuss the issue on Thursday. (Stefan Brändle from Paris, 6/1/2023)
S | A
