If a rail journey takes less than 2 hours 30 minutes, users shall, on certain routes, opt for the train instead of the plane. Certain short-term domestic flights are now prohibited, as provided for in the decree issued on May 23, 2023. A decision that is part of "the government's policy to encourage the use of less greenhouse gas-emitting modes of transportation," says the Minister of Transport.

This French measure was one of the key provisions of the Climate and Resilience Law of 2021. The European Commission and the Council of State validated its implementation in December 2022.

On what criteria is the flight ban defined?

Article 1^er the decree states that the prohibition applies to scheduled public air passenger services for which a rail link provides, in each direction, a journey of less than 2 hours 30:

• between stations serving the same cities as the respective airports (where the most important airport on the route in terms of traffic is directly served by a high-speed rail service, the station used for the calculation of the alternative rail service shall be that serving that airport; in other cases, the station used shall be that of the city of the airport concerned);
• no change of train between these two stations;
• several times a day, with satisfactory service, ‘including the affordability of alternative rail transport tariffs’, states the decree;
• and allowing the traveler to remain more than 8 hours onsite during the day, all year round (requires connections early in the morning and late in the evening).

Connecting flights are not covered by the decree.

Which flights are involved?

To date, three air routes fall within the scope of the Decree:

• Paris Orly-Nantes ;
• Paris Orly-Lyon ;
• Paris Orly-Bordeaux.

The links between the cities of Lyon or Rennes and Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, and the Lyon-Marseille link are not affected at present, their deletion is mentioned in relation to an improvement of the railway network.