In a move that has the environment saying merci beaucoup, France has officially banned short haul flights between Paris and cities that can be reached by train in less than 2.5 hours. The ban was signed into law in France on Tuesday.

The routes affected include flights between Paris Orly and Bordeaux, Paris Orly and Lyon and Paris Orly and Nantes. There may be no country more beautiful to travel by train through than France, so we have zero complaints here.

Flights that will be unaffected by the ban will be those connecting internationally through Paris. Those flights will remain to travellers.

For the ban to have been accepted by the EU certain requirements had to be met. There had to be high-speed rail alternatives that would make it possible to travel between Paris and the three cities in less than 2.5 hours and early and late running trains so that travellers were able to travel to Paris and back within at least eight hours.

While short haul flights are not the major contributor to carbon emissions caused by air travel, this is still a step in the right direction for France as it looks to decarbonise its cities.

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