BRUSSELS — The European Commission has approved a French move to ban short-haul domestic flights on routes where rail service is available that takes less than 2½ hours.
The move approved Friday will end flights between Paris Orly Airport and the cities of Nantes, Bordeaux, and Lyon, the Telegraph reports. That falls short of the eight routes French lawmakers had proposed, with the Commission deciding that the ban could only be enacted on routes with several direct connections in each direction each day.
Improvements in rail service could see three additional air routes eliminated: between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Lyon and Rennes, and between Lyon and Marseille.
EuroNews reports that when the ban was first announced in December 2021, it was opposed by the Union of French Airports and the European branch of the Airports Council International, leading to an in-depth investigation by the European Commission.
Ultimately, the Commission approved the ban under a regulation allowing a state to “where there are serious environmental problems … limit or refuse the exercise of [air] traffic rights, in particular where other modes of transport provide a satisfactory service.”
The ban will be in effect for three years, after which it will be reassessed.
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