Spain could be the next European country to ban short-haul domestic flights as part of efforts to combat climate change.
Madrid may follow the example of France. Recall that in May the French decided to abandon a number of domestic flights and replace them with travel by rail. This applies to those directions with which the high-speed train “copes” in less than 2.5 hours.
The Spanish authorities have already launched plans to take similar steps – they are contained in the Spanish Prime Minister’s Program for the period up to 2050.
According to research, airplanes in Spain leave twice the carbon footprint of high-speed trains. In the past 12 months, a total of 5,744 flights have been made between Barcelona and Madrid. This is despite the fact that the distance between cities is only 630 kilometers, and the train can overcome it in about 2.5 hours.
It should be noted that not everyone supports the decision to ban short-range flights. Thus, the Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Willie Walsh, generally considered such a decision to be completely absurd. Walsh said that this serves no purpose, especially since the proportion of air routes replaced by rail is negligible, and they certainly cannot affect the state of the planet’s atmosphere in any way.
However, it is generally accepted that short-haul flights are the largest contributor to aviation emissions in Europe, mainly due to more take-off and landing cycles.