Short-Haul Flight Bans Begin In France

The European Commission has approved a scaled-back plan for France to ban airline flights that can be replaced with train trips of 2.5 hours or less. Three popular flights from Paris's Orly Airport to Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux will be stopped for three years and the impact assessed after that. Last April the French government approved the concept but it had to be signed off by the EC. The plan met with resistance from French airport groups.

France initially planned to ground eight flights, including Charles de Gaulle to Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes and Rennes and one between Lyon and Marseille, but found that there weren't rail alternatives to cover all the flights that would be canceled. Meanwhile, France is still looking at restricting private jet use, particularly traffic between Paris and the Riviera. If the rich and famous took the train instead, they'd cut their carbon footprint by a factor of 50, according to a government report.