It's official: France bans short haul domestic flights in favour of train travel
France has been given the green light to ban short haul domestic flights.
The European Commission has approved the move which will abolish flights between cities that are linked by a train journey of less than 2.5 hours.
The decision was announced on Friday. The changes are part of the country’s 2021 Climate Law.
France is also cracking down on the use of private jets for short journeys in a bid to make transport greener and fairer for the population.
Transport minister Clément Beaune said the country could no longer tolerate the super rich using private planes while the public are making cutbacks to deal with the energy crisis and climate change.
France has officially been given the go-ahead to halt environmentally-damaging domestic flights.
Initially, the ban will only affect routes between Paris Orly and Nantes, Lyon, and Bordeaux.
Connecting flights will also have to follow these new rules.
When the measures were first announced, they were contested by the Union of French Airports (UAF) as well as the European branch of the Airports Council International (ACI Europe).
This prompted an in-depth investigation by the European Commission into whether the plan could go ahead or not.
A European Air Services Regulation article states that a member state may, "where there are serious environmental problems […] limit or refuse the exercise of traffic rights, in particular where other modes of transport provide a satisfactory service”.
The Commission gave its approval on Friday making it the first time this article has been invoked by an EU member state.
The ban on short-haul flights will be valid for three years, after which it must be reassessed by the Commission.
"[This] is a major step forward in the policy of reducing greenhouse gas
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