SOURCE: The Guardian<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a heated debate in the Assembl\u00e9e Nationale at the weekend, the ban, a watered-down version of a key recommendation from President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s citizens\u2019 climate convention was adopted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The climate commission set up by Macron had originally recommended the scrapping of all flights between French destinations where an alternative direct train journey of less than four hours existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was reduced to two and a half hours after strong objections from certain regions and from Air France-KLM, which, like other airlines, has been badly hit by local and international Covid-19 restrictions on travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n