France has been given permission by the European Commission to ban domestic flights where there is an alternative rail service of less than two and a half hours.
The French government announced plans to ban some short-haul domestic services in 2021 as part of its Climate Law. The move was contested by the Union of French Airports (UAF) and Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe), which led to a review by the EU.
The European Commission said that this plan could go ahead in a statement on Friday (2 December). Although it will only initially apply to three routes from Paris Orly airport to Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux, and the measure will also have to be reviewed after three years in place.
The commission added that the ban on domestic flights can only be enforced if there are several rail services operating on the routes each day.
Other air routes, such as from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Lyon and Rennes, and also between Lyon and Marseille, could be banned in the future if rail services between the airports improve. But two other routes - from Paris CDG to Bordeaux and Nantes - cannot be banned because the journey time exceeds two and a half hours.
France’s transport minister Clement Beaune said in a statement: “This is a major step forward and I am proud that France is a pioneer in this area.”
Air France stopped flying on the three banned routes in 2020 after receiving support from the French government during the pandemic.
“Banning those routes will therefore not lead to an actual reduction in emissions,” noted the commission. “However, unquantifiable environmental benefits may nonetheless be generated since air carriers potentially interested in operating these routes will be prevented from doing so.”
The French government had originally planned to exclude domestic flights which were “carrying a majority of connecting passengers” from the ban.
But the EC ruled that this policy created a “risk of possible discrimination and distortion of competition between air carriers”, and the French government later withdrew this part of its proposal.
France is the first EU member to attempt this kind of ban on short-haul domestic flights on environmental grounds.