UK boosts domestic air travel as EU countries move to ban it

How will this change travel behaviours?

Train travel within the UK is notoriously expensive. The cost has been rising steadily, with tickets for domestic trains going up by a massive 5.9 percent last year alone.

On top of this, domestic flights were a third cheaper than train travel even before the APD tax drop. In fact, research on all UK train routes showed that only 30 percent of journeys were cheaper than taking a plane.

Now that the price of internal flights has dropped further, it’s likely that more people will be tempted to choose air travel between places like London and Manchester.

This is problematic when on average, a journey completed by train emits 6 times less carbon dioxide than a flight across the same distance.

Not to mention, the processes of take-off and landing require the use of the most fuel. Research by The Company of Biologists says that because a significant portion of short-haul flights is comprised of these periods, they technically emit more CO2 per/km than long-haul flights do. Yikes.

As a society, we’re undoubtedly more conscious of our carbon footprint than ever before. But with the cost of living crisis in full-grip – will British passengers really care?

Europeans might soon have no choice

Although Brits might well embrace the breadth of new domestic flights available, Europeans are preparing to see their air travel options dwindle – if they haven’t already.

Schiphol Airport, based in Amsterdam, has just announced it will stop serving overnight flights by 2025 to lower CO2 emissions and reduce noise pollution. A ban on private jets between certain time periods is also being explored.

This is big news when Schiphol sees about 1,202 flights depart its runway every day. The airport is an epicentre for travel, facilitating connecting flights to and from all around the world.

These changes hope to get the Netherlands closer to its ambitious green targets, as it is will be one of the first in the Global North to be submerged if global warming causes sea levels to rise further.

Other EU countries are doing their part by banning short-haul domestic travel. For example, Austria has already banned flights between cities accessible by a 3 hour train ride.

France, the UK’s closest neighbour, implemented a similar ban on domestic flights between cities less than a 2.5 hour train ride apart. Following suit, Belgium wasted no time banning flights travelling less than a 500km distance.

These are all amazing efforts, but the true winner here is Luxembourg. Its public transport system – from buses, trams, and trains – has been free for three years and counting.

Making public transport more accessible encourages more eco-friendly behaviours and has significantly reduced traffic levels across the country. While this might not be a realistic approach everywhere, it’s hard to see how making carbon-emitting flights cheaper is either.

It’s 2023, after all. Shouldn’t decisions that are blatantly environment-destroying be off the table entirely?