France Bans Some Shorter Domestic Flights to Curb Emissions – AFAR Magazine

Some of France’s domestic flights will cease operations this month due to a ban on short-haul routes where travelers could alternatively take a train in under 2.5 hours. 

The ban aims to reduce carbon emissions caused by planes in France and is part of the country’s overall effort to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030. The new policy marks the first time a country has enacted a law prohibiting flights for environmental reasons. 

The new law (which was voted on in 2021) affects five routes:

Flights between Paris Orly and Bordeaux
Flights between Paris Orly and Lyon
Flights between Paris Orly and Nantes
Flights between Paris Orly and Rennes
Flights between Lyon and Marseille

There are some exceptions, however. Flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport aren’t affected, according to reports. And flights from smaller French airports that connect to an international flight, such as Lyon to London with a layover in Paris, are not banned.  

It’s hard to say how much this will affect France’s carbon emissions, but according to a report in the Guardian, “Because so much of the pollution from any given flight takes place during take-off and landing cycles, the emissions produced per kilometer for each passenger on a domestic route are 70 percent higher than long haul flights–and six times higher than if the same journey was made by rail.” 

As part of the French government’s 2020 pandemic bailout package, Air France was given more than $7 billion with the provision that the airline do more to combat any negative effects its operations have on the environment—banning the shorter flights was among the conditions. (Air France operated the bulk of flights on all five routes.) The measure was written into law the following year, partially because the government didn’t want other carriers to swoop in and claim those routes, effectively undermining Air France’s effort to be more sustainable. 

Other European countries have enacted similar measures in recent years, though none are an outright ban on short-haul flights. Austria replaced a flight route between Vienna and Salzburg with increased train service in 2020. 

And Germany’s Aviation Association and Deutsche Bahn (the country’s main rail company) signed an agreement in 2021 to offer more high-speed train connections, making going by train instead of flying an easier choice for travelers. The two entities said that increase in rail service would give about 20 percent of air travelers (or about 4.3 million people a year) the option to travel by train instead, which could reduce carbon dioxide emissions generated by domestic air travel by a sixth. 

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