The Anonymous Widower

France Bans Short-Haul Flights To Cut Carbon Emissions

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.

This is the sub-heading.

France has banned domestic short-haul flights where train alternatives exist, in a bid to cut carbon emissions.

And these are the first two paragraphs.

The law came into force two years after lawmakers had voted to end routes where the same journey could be made by train in under two-and-a-half hours.

The ban all but rules out air travel between Paris and cities including Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux, while connecting flights are unaffected.

The article also says, that critics have described the latest measures as “symbolic bans”.

I wrote France Passes A Law That Prohibits Domestic Flights, For Trips That Can Be Made By Train In Less Than Two And A Half Hours, when France passed the law.

This was my conclusion of that post.

I feel that, it could be quite likely that new technology, faster trains and targeted marketing will reduce the number of internal flights in the UK.

The same forces will probably do the same in several countries, including France.

So do we really need a law?

Eventually trains and planes will find an equilibrium between their market shares.

May 23, 2023 - Posted by | Transport/Travel | , ,

2 Comments »

  1. The Times reports today that “A much-trumpeted ban on short domestic flights in France took effect with so many exemptions that no services will be halted.” Apparently, the 3 mentioned flights were with Orly, which have not been run since Covid, whereas those with CdG are unaffected.

    Like you, I’d be sceptical of this sort of law. More to do with politicians posturing than anything useful, I think. In GB, most city-city connections are too short for airlines; they’re mainly between S England and Scotland, though easyJet does run Bristol-Newcastle, for example. France and now Spain have low-cost high-speed-train services (3 companies now run Madrid-Barcelona in competition with Renfe’s AVE, for example), which have proved popular and could well reduce the attraction of flying without the need for any law.

    Comment by Peter Robins | May 24, 2023 | Reply

  2. […] France Bans Short-Haul Flights To Cut Carbon Emissions […]

    Pingback by Are LNER Going To Take On The Airlines? « The Anonymous Widower | November 19, 2023 | Reply


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