France Bans Domestic Flights That Could be Travelled by Train in Under Two and a Half Hours
Question – How would you feel if the UK Governments outlawed internal flights that can be travelled by train in less than two and half hours?
Did this story pass you by in Mid-April 2021? It is potentially big news for us all, because this initiative by France will likely be adopted by other nations, and the way that the scheme limits domestic air travel will likely be broadened…. from two and half hours to four hours.
This move by France has its origins in protests, which you might have seen, whereby the ‘Gilets Jaunes’ (Yellow Vests) made many public demonstrations in France’s major cities demanding more action by the French Government to tackle the climate crisis. This is turn led to the citizens climate convention, which laid out what the people wanted to see done by the leaders of France.
In its current form, flights between Paris and airports at Nantes, Bordeaux, Lyon and the like will be banned, meaning that flights to further away destinations in the South are, for now, exempt. Something which underlines the wastefulness of domestic flights is the fact that Air France’s domestic network was losing two hundred million euros per year prior to the pandemic – surely, a fact not lost on the French Government which owns a substantial stake in the airline.
If this measure were adopted by the UK, flights for example between London and Manchester would by banned, reducing the number of domestic UK flights taken by passengers by half a million. The impact of short haul flying on this type of route in CO2 terms is underlined when you consider that emissions per km per passenger on domestic flights is 70% higher than long haul flights. This is because so much of the power for flight is required at take-off and landing proportional to the distance travelled.
The UK governments focus is in novel fuels for air travel, but the reality of this aiding us reaching our emissions reductions goals is stark – the governments own UK Climate Change Committee stating that zero-carbon aviation won’t be viable by 2050 and ventures into these fuels is “highly speculativeâ€. It further recommends ‘deliberate policies’ that might include banning private jets and outlawing ‘air miles’ schemes and potential include a ‘frequent flyer levy’.
To conclude, this move by France could be replicated around the globe and is most likely essential if we are to limit climate change by 1.5 degrees as per the Paris Climate Agreement. Should businesses write this 2.5 hour limit into their travel policy and not permit their staff to use short-haul flights to get to meetings and such? Could this decimate the network of regional airports?
Your views and opinions on (and shares of) this article are welcomed.
Winning Thinking Strategic Solutions Advisor
3 å¹´Train can be a better alternative. Good decision I feel.
BDM - Bids & Tenders - allpay
3 å¹´It is a very interesting move, and certainly I would imagine as you said - the French Govt investment in Air France has perhaps led it to this conclusion more than its green credentials. However, either way it is not a surprise. By way of application to the UK, it probably would have significantly less significance. In that, I cannot think of too many internal UK flights that were achievable in under 2h. London/Manchester is a good example, it clocks in between 2h5m and 2h25m depending on route etc. It isn't a profitable route as shown by Virgin when they launched Little Red and were losing c.ï¿¡3m per week. By no way do I think it is a bad move by the French Government, nor would it be in the UK. I would just temper my enthusiasm by the virtue that I do not believe would not affect enough flights to be of significance. For example, London to Newquay is a flight but a comparable 5+ hour train journey for 290 miles. Paris to Bordeaux, over 70 miles further, is around 3 hours on a French train. Therefore realistically, the UK Government needs to re-consider its train investment, the operators need to consider pricing and then if the UK Government implemented a similar 'ban' it would be able to have the time difference greater than 3h. Then there would be real impact. It is a step, but like many aspects of heading to Carbon Neutral, there needs to be really fast & significant investment in infrastructure if the goals are even going to be close to being met.
Business consultant
3 å¹´If it is less than 2 1/2 hours on a train, this sounds very reasonable and even a poor performing electric car can travel that sort of distance so planes are highly inefficient at that point anyway..... I would think, although not an expert by any means
Independent Social Worker
3 å¹´This sounds like a move in the right direction. We need to start to think the unthinkable!