Another country is on the path to “decarbonization” and creating problems for tourists: Spain is planning to ban a certain type of air travel. As in France, it is a matter of banning domestic flights on short routes — those for which there is an alternative in the form of rail connections, lasting no more than two hours.
Flights are trying to be closed “as part of efforts to fight climate change”. According to the Spanish press, it is stated that air transportation in Spain produces twice as much carbon dioxide as high-speed trains. At the same time, only 5,700 flights were made between Barcelona and Madrid per year. The distance between these cities is 650 km, i.e. 2.5 hours by train.
In France, it should be noted, the ban on domestic flights on short routes came into force last month. It was her Minister of Transport of France, Clément Beaune, who declared that short-haul domestic flights are prohibited in the country and stated that in Europe they are “increasingly fighting” for “the absorption of our way of life”, and also noted that transportation between large cities would only benefit from regular, fast and efficient railway connections.
However, there are also voices against it. The decision to ban short-haul flights was not supported unanimously. And the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Willie Walsh considered such a decision absurd.