One of those news items that seems to leave no-one entirely happy, even as reality closes in on our blinkered, extractive societies:

“French MPs have voted to suspend domestic airline flights on routes that can be travelled by direct train in less than two and a half hours, as part of a series of climate and environmental measures.
“After a heated debate in the Assemblée Nationale at the weekend, the ban, a watered-down version of a key recommendation from President Emmanuel Macron’s citizens’ climate convention was adopted.
“It will mean the end of short internal flights from Orly airport, south of Paris, to Nantes and Bordeaux among others, though connecting flights through Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport, north of the French capital, will continue.”

Since Orly airport is currently poorly connected to the national train network, this will mean taking a half-hour bus (or taxi, or shuttle+suburban line) from Orly to Massy-Palaiseau train station, then a TGV train towards Bordeaux or Nantes. Not a very glamorous connection for high-rollers. The Massy-Bordeaux TGV leg takes just over two hours on the fastest trains.

On the upside, the “one day in the future” metro line 18 in Paris will directly link Orly with Massy-Palaiseau, but we’ll all have another decade on our counters before that happens. Best-case scenario is currently 2027.

As hinted in the text, Charles de Gaulle is even worse off, being on the far side of Paris, and the direct trains from it to Bordeaux—for example—take nearly 4 hours. At least you can catch these trains without leaving the airport though.

Overall, you’re looking at a three hour overland journey from Orly to Bordeaux (with really good connections) and a four hour journey from Charles de Gaulle to Bordeaux.

“The chief executive of Air France-KLM, Benjamin Smith, has said the airline is committed to reducing the number of its French domestic routes by 40% by the end of this year.”

Note that “number of routes” is not the same as “number of flights”. Even today, on the shorter routes with a good rail connection, Air France already doesn’t have that many flights (Paris to Lyon for example, currently 3 a day, compared to say Paris-Toulouse: 9 flights a day vs a slow train connection).

Basically everyone hates the new bill, including probably also the government in charge, who feel obliged to sign it.

“The measure, part of a climate and resilience bill, was passed despite cross-party opposition. The Socialist MP Joël Aviragnet said the measure would have a “disproportionate human cost” and warned of job losses in the airline sector. Other MPs, including from the Green party, complained that watering down the climate convention’s recommendation had made the measure meaningless.”

Pretending not to see that looming job losses are an automatic consequence of a desperate attempt to hold on to a liveable planet is disingenuous to say the least. Replace the word “aviation” with “coal-mining” and the lay of the land starts to become clear.

[Cover photo: AFP/Getty Images]