Staff Reports
The French government has hailed itself as a leader in the fight against climate change after it was given permission by the European Union to ban domestic flights.
Following a law passed in 2021, the European Commission has now rubber-stamped a ban on three short-haul flights between Paris and regional French cities.
The climate law passed in 2021 prevented domestic flights within two and a half hours of regular train services. The Union of French Airports challenged the ban, which resulted in the Commission's involvement.
The Commission's review found that only three of the routes proposed for closure were actually served by the rail network. These are from Paris to Lyon, Bordeaux, and Nantes.
Despite the ban's implementation, the number of trains operating on these routes did not meet the demand, according to Flight Global. The lack of regular train services could lead to the ban being expanded in the future.
During the post-war period, France's rail network was heavily invested. This was partly funded by the Marshall Plan. It also pioneered high-speed travel.
According to Business Travel Network, the environmental impact of the ban may not be as great as it first seemed. It claims that since no airlines currently operate these routes, the restrictions will prevent them from re-opening them. This is because they were dropped during the SARS and coronavirus pandemics in exchange for government aid.
Although the ban has already been implemented, other routes may still be affected by the law's expansion. As previously reported, the two-and-a-half-hour restriction for train alternatives was significantly reduced from the original four-hour limit. This would bring the total number of areas affected by the ban to nine.
The framework used by France to implement the ban was also made available to the governments of other EU countries. This means more areas may be affected by the ban in the future.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Breitbart.
