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Rabat – The European Commission has decided to uphold the French ban on selected domestic flights, confirming the move is legal.
The ban was adopted last year, prohibiting short-haul domestic flights if the journey can be completed by train in under two and a half hours, in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.
The EU’s decision clarified that for the ban to be legal, a train route capable of carrying the same amount of passengers must already be in place. The approval is also contingent on the ban lasting only for three years, with a review for its effectiveness to be conducted in two years.
The decision also specified that the restrictions “should not be any more restrictive than is necessary to fix the problem,” aviation focused outlet Simple Flying reported. The prohibitions for air routes should also not affect competition between air carriers, the EU commission ruled.
Proponents of the ban argued that with the presence of a more environmentally friendly means of transport in trains, and that short-haul domestic flights only represent an unnecessary source of emissions.
But the ban was met with backlash from the aviation industry, who argued that the banned routes connect France with other international destinations by offering critical connections.
They also argued the reduction in emissions would have minimal effects due to only a small number of routes being eligible for the ban, concluding that the ban’s harm to the economy outweighs its benefit to the environment.
According to the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), flights produced 915 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) globally in 2019, accounting for 2.1% of all human-induced CO2 emissions.
