France gets Brussels’ backing for short-haul flights ban

On December 2, the European Commission backed French government efforts to temporarily ban internal flights between destinations that are less than a 150-minute train journey apart. The Commission said in its December 2 statement that it “believes that France is entitled to consider that a serious environmental problem exists in the situation at issue, which includes the urgent need to reduce GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions”. The Commission opined that the French law, which would halt the flights for three years, “could be justified under Article 20(1) of the Regulation provided it is non-discriminatory, does not distort competition between air carriers,