EU approves France’s short-haul flight ban — but only so far for 3 routes from Paris
The European Commission has approved France’s plan to ban short-haul flights when there’s a decent rail alternative — but it will only affect 3 routes. French lawmakers in 2021 voted to prohibit short-haul domestic flights when there’s an alternative rail connection of two and a half hours or less. The original proposal, which required the green light from Brussels, was initially to affect 8 routes. Now the Commission has said the ban can only take place if there are genuine rail alternatives available for the same route — meaning several direct connections each way, every day. So it will just apply to journeys between Paris-Orly and Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon. It includes linking flights from those airports. Three more routes might be added — between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Lyon and Rennes, and between Lyon and Marseille — if rail services improve. The EU executive said France was justified to introduce the measure provided it is “non-discriminatory, does not distort competition between air carriers,[and] is not more restrictive than necessary”. It is not really going to make much of a dent in overall French aviation CO2 emissions.
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EU approves France’s short-haul flight ban — but only for 3 routes
The new plan will cancel domestic flights that can be replaced by a short train journey.
BY MARI ECCLES (Politico)
DECEMBER 2, 2022
The European Commission has approved France’s plan to ban short-haul flights when there’s a decent rail alternative — but it will only affect three routes.
French lawmakers in 2021 voted to prohibit short-haul domestic flights when there’s an alternative rail connection of two and a half hours or less. The original proposal, which required the green light from Brussels, was slated to affect eight routes.
Now the Commission has said the ban can only take place if there are genuine rail alternatives available for the same route — meaning several direct connections each way every day.
That means only three routes will currently fall under the ban: journeys between Paris-Orly and Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon.
The EU executive said France was justified to introduce the measure provided it is “non-discriminatory, does not distort competition between air carriers, is not more restrictive than necessary to relieve the problem.”
Three more routes could be added — between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Lyon and Rennes, and between Lyon and Marseille — if rail services improve.
Those routes currently don’t meet the threshold because travelers trying to get to airports in Paris and Lyon don’t have a rail connection that would get them in early enough in the morning or late enough in the evening.
Two other proposed routes — from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Bordeaux and Nantes — were excluded from the measure because the rail journey time falls above the two-and-a-half-hour limit.
The Commission also removed a proposed exemption to the ban that the French government wanted to apply to domestic flights that are part of a multi-stop international journey. The overall measure should last only three years, with a review after two, it said.
“This is a major step forward and I am proud that France is a pioneer in this area,” France’s Transport Minister Clément Beaune said in an emailed statement.
Green groups were also encouraged by the Commission approval, but stressed that the country has to do much more to decarbonize transport.
“The French ban on short-haul flights where quick train connections exist is a baby step, but it’s one in the right direction,” said Thomas Gelin, Greenpeace’s EU climate campaigner.
French Green MEP Karima Delli described the news as a “victory,” but said that the legislation should have been extended to cover flights that could be replaced by a four-hour train journey.
That was the original idea for the flight ban as proposed by France’s Citizens’ Convention on Climate, a citizens’ assembly tasked with making proposals for reducing the country’s carbon emissions. The scope was narrowed following objections by some French regions and by Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM.
Delli also argued that private jets should be included within the measure. Beaune said this summer he wanted to see more EU-wide measures against private planes, following popular backlash against them in France.
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-greenlights-frances-short-haul-ban-but-only-on-3-routes/
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France ban on short-haul domestic flights with a rail alternative approved by Brussels
Climate campaigners tentatively welcome the move but say that it is still ‘baby steps’ in battle to cut carbon dioxide emissions
By Rebecca Rosman
4 December 2022 •
France is banning short-haul domestic flights when there is a rail alternative that takes less than two and a half hours.
The ban, which has been greenlit by Brussels, will put an end to flights between Paris Orly Airport and the cities of Nantes, Bordeaux, and Lyon.
The final number of axed flights stops short of the eight routes French lawmakers had proposed to cut.
The European Commission, which was given the final say on the law, decided the ban could only take place on routes that offered several direct connections in each direction every day.
If rail services improve, three more routes could be added – between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Lyon and Rennes, and between Lyon and Marseille.
“This is a major step forward and I am proud that France is a pioneer in this area,” Clément BeauneFrance’s transport minister, said in an emailed statement following the commission’s approval of the measure.
Climate activists and Green party politicians similarly welcomed the ban, but said it was a “baby step” in the larger fight against climate change and reducing carbon dioxide emissions in Europe.
“The French ban on short-haul flights where quick train connections exist is a baby step, but it’s one in the right direction,” said Thomas Gelin, Greenpeace’s EU climate campaigner.
Karima Delli, a French Green MEP, applauded the commission’s decision as a “victory”, but said the legislation should have been extended to cover flights that could be replaced by a four-hour train journey.
It will still take several months for the ban to come into force.
Some European lawmakers hope the law will expand to routes across the continent as new high-speed rail lines, as part of the EU’s TEN-T project, are being constructed.
While the current rail journey between Paris and Milan, for example, takes more than 7 hours, the opening of the new 36-mile-long Mont Cenis Base Tunnel will cut the journey time in half.
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It’s official: France bans short haul domestic flights in favour of train travel
Paris to London journeys could soon be a thing for the past for jetsetters.
By Lottie Limb (EURONEWS. GREEN)
02/12/2022
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 given green light to abolish internal flights
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”.
It’s going in the right direction, but the initial measure is one that’s (not very) ambitious. We must go even further.
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 emissions,” transport minister Beaune said in a press release.
“I am proud that France is a pioneer in this area,” he added.
Sarah Fayolle, Greenpeace France transport campaign manager, told Euronews that there were both “negative and positive aspects” to the European Commission’s decision given that only three routes are affected.
“It’s going in the right direction, but the initial measure is one that’s (not very) ambitious. We must go even further,” she said.
When will France’s flight ban come into effect?
Although the law came into force last year, it will take a while for the ban to come into force.
The measures need to be submitted for public consultation and reviewed by the Council of State, Beaune explained.
He added that this would be done “as quickly as possible.”
Is France going to ban private jets completely?
Transport minister Clément Beaune says France can no longer tolerate people using private planes for their comfort.
Private jets have been a source of outrage lately, as the city-hopping exploits of celebrities and billionaires come to light. A jet belonging to Steven Spielberg burned around €117,000 worth of fuel in the two months since June, according to flight tracking data.
A report from Transport and Environment (T&E), the European federation for clean transport, found that private jets are up to 14 times more polluting than commercial flights per passenger mile, and 50 times worse than trains.
Despite urgent calls from campaigners, France is unlikely to impose a total ban on jets.
Government spokesman Olivier Véran reaffirmed today that it is “obviously not a question of banning them”, given their important role in the economy. But “the French should not have to feel as if it’s always the same people who are being asked to make efforts”.
“We can understand that a Frenchman who is careful in his daily life is shocked by the fact that some of his fellow citizens can take a private jet to make flea jumps”, he told France Inter radio listeners this morning.
Heavy taxation and restrictions are the most likely measures to be introduced. Companies could also be forced to publish details on their use of corporate aircraft, for greater transparency.
CO2 emissions just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ for the climate cost of air travel
How does France compare to other European nations?
It’s for good reason that France is looking to curb the gas-guzzling age of air travel. The country has the highest number of private jets in Europe according to recent aviation data, with frequent fliers to Paris and the French Riviera.
A tenth of all departure flights in 2019 were by private jets, T&E research found, with half travelling less than 300 miles.
But the government also believes that EU-wide action is the best way to tackle the problem. Beaune said he would push the issue at an upcoming European transport ministers’ meeting in October.
“The Minister of Transport proposes to carry out a consultation at European level to see if there are ways to offset CO2 emissions,” added Véran.
France is also incentivising people to switch from cars to bikes
A maximum of €4,000 is available to low-income households in low-emission zones to subsidise the switch, with smaller amounts to help wealthier citizens.
Last week’s extension to ‘Le Plan Vélo’ – which launched last year – is intended to help the French catch up with the bike-loving Dutch, Germans and Danes.
The aim is to get 9 per cent of the country on two-wheels by 2024, compared to the current proportion of 3 per cent (the Netherlands boasts 27 per cent cyclists).
France isn’t the only country getting things right in this regard, of course. The bike subsidy scheme is based on the hugely successful rollout of e-bikes, scooters and mopeds in Lithuania, where, since 2020, people have been given up to €1,000 for handing in their old vehicle. This can even go towards public transportation credits.
If you feel like trading your government in for a better model after reading the above, there’s plenty more inspiration to take from the way other countries are greening their transport here.
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