France officially bans short-haul domestic flights

This means that popular flight routes, like Paris Charles de Gaulle to Lyon and Rennes, will remain unaffected as rail services either don’t yet exist or exceed the 2.5 hour criteria.

All measures are to be reviewed in three years’ time, to see how effective the embargo is at bringing CO2 levels down. The European Commission assures that stricter reductions can be introduced if the climate data doesn’t live up to expectations.

It’s not just gas-guzzling commercial fliers that French officials are taking aim at, either. Private jets are up to 14 times more polluting than such flights and 50 times worse than trains, and regulators are reportedly gearing up to introduce heavy taxes and restrictions.

 

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If you’re wondering just how damaging these transport exploits are, we laid bare Kylie Jenner’s wasteful flying habits, as well as other A list celebrities last summer.

On that point, aviation data points to France as having the largest number of private jets in the whole of Europe, and a tenth of all departures in 2019 were attributed to them – 50% travelling less than 300 miles also, it’s worth noting.

‘The French should not have to feel as if it’s always the same people who are being asked to make efforts,’ said government spokesperson Olivier Veran, who went on to describe the disparity between jet and plane as a ‘flea jump’ on French radio this week.

Veran claimed the Minister of Transport is now proposing a consultation on a wider scale to see if the whole of Europe can begin to deal with both types of aviation emissions.

As much as we’d love that to happen in the near future, given the stint we had to endure before this bill came into effect, you’d be wise to take that last point with a pinch of salt.