France plans to ban domestic flights wherever possible. French Deputy Minister for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, mentioned the train as an alternative on French radio. According to him, this concerns routes between cities that can be travelled by rail within 2.5 hours.
The French government has urged Air France to cut short flights from the schedule as part of the support package. Environmental pollution, among other things, plays a major role in this matter. Prohibiting the short connections should also prevent budget airlines from diving on the routes in question, Djebbari said.
Air France-KLM previously received a support package worth 7 billion euros from Paris. According to the French Finance Minister Bruno le Maire, sustainability requirements were requires for this. The aviation consortium previously stated that it was a good deal, especially for local flights from Air France.
