On Friday 2 December, in an implementing decision, the European Commission approved the measure decided by the French government to ban domestic flights when the same journey takes less than 2.5 hours by train.
The text published in the Official Journal of the EU states that this decision will be reviewed after 3 years and will also apply to connecting flights.
“I welcome the Commission’s decision, which will allow further steps to be taken to effectively ban airlines from flying when there is an alternative of less than 2.5 hours by train. This is a major step forward”, commented French Transport Minister Clément Beaune, according to AFP.
In more specific terms, connections between Paris-Orly airport and Bordeaux, Nantes or Lyon will be prohibited to carriers. However, in the absence of sufficiently efficient rail alternatives, connections between Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport and Nantes and Bordeaux will still be possible.
The European Commission had begun to study the French government’s plan in December 2021. At the time, a number of organisations and stakeholders in the sector were concerned that this decision would discriminate between transport operators.
See the European Commission’s decision: https://aeur.eu/f/4g3 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)