France May Soon Replace Flights with Trains for Short Journeys

It's now quite well-known that aviation emission from airplanes contribute to global warming. Many countries have been considering cutting down on short duration flights. 

The latest is France. French MPs are voting to ban short domestic flights in favor of train services on routes that can be travelled in less than two-and-a-half hours. 

After a heated debate in the Assemblée Nationale, lawmakers approved the plan as part of climate and environmental measures. They'll suspend several air routes to reduce emissions.

If France's upper house approves the bill then France will be a part of a group of European countries who seek to move away from short flights. The bill will suspend short internal flights from south of Paris, Orly airport, to Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux and other. Although connecting flights through Charles de Gaulle will continue.

READ: On-Board Meals on Flights Less Than Two Hours have been Banned 

The Transport Minister also said that when there are robust alternatives people usually switch to trains,  citing the routes from Strasbourg and Bordeaux to Paris. He said each time the high-speed lines have competed with flights, the trains have largely taken away airline passengers.

The government's plan to ban the four-hour limit would have saved the three routes: Paris-Nice, Paris-Toulouse, (and) Paris-Marseille, emitting the most greenhouse gas, said MP Danièle Obono.

With the pandemic aggravating pre-existing social crises, Europeans have chosen to travel by trains with the airways industry currently on hold.

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