A short-haul flight ban is a prohibition imposed by governments on airlines to establish and maintain a flight connection over a certain distance, or by organisations or companies on their employees for business travel using existing flight connections over a certain distance, in order to mitigate the environmental impact of aviation (most notably to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions which is the leading cause of climate change). In the 21st century, several governments, organisations and companies have imposed restrictions and even prohibitions on short-haul flights, stimulating or pressuring travellers to opt for more environmentally friendly means of transportation, especially trains.
A portion of air travelers in short-haul routes connect to other flights at their destination. A blanket ban would have a significant impact on these travelers, as inadequate rail connectivity between airports and main railway hubs of cities generally result in longer overall travel times and disruption to travellers overall.
Definition
There is no consensus on what constitutes a 'short-haul flight'. In public discourse such as debates and surveys, the term is often not explicitly defined. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) defines a short-haul flight as "a flight with duration of 6 hours or fewer", and a long-haul flight takes longer than 6 hours. In practice, governments and organisations have set different standards, either according to the absolute distance between cities as the crow flies in hundreds of kilometres, or in terms of how many hours it would take a train to cover the same distance. As one example, the University of Groningen set limits according to both standards, namely prohibiting its personnel from flying distances shorter than 500 kilometres, or shorter than can be travelled by train in 6 hours. There was some confusion on how to calculate and reconcile both limits: as the crow flies, the distance between Groningen and Berlin is 465 km, but the road connection 577 km; moreover, the train travel time varies from 5.40 hours to 6.30 hours.
Overview Governments Overview of short-haul flight bans Enacted by Distance 3 hours train travel 2.5 hours train travel 150 kilometres(proposed) (Belgium) 100 kilometres Greater London Authority 6 hours train travel BBC Worldwide 3 hours train travel Environment Agency ≈7 hours train travel CP University Linz 8 hours train travel Klarna Bank AB All within Europe Tilburg University 500 kilometres Ghent University 6 hours train travel University of Groningen 6 hours train travelOR 500 kilometres University of Geneva 4 hours train travel Eberswalde University forSustainable Development 10 hours train travelOR 1000 kilometres HTW Berlin 6 hours train travel Flemish Government 6 hours land travelOR 500 kilometres SFB 1287 department ofUniversity of Potsdam 12 hours train travel OR 1000 kilometres Institut für Energietechnik ofRapperswil University 12 hours alt. travel OR 1000 kilometres Wageningen University 6 hours train travel Radboud University Nijmegen 7 hours train travel Canton of Basel-Stadt 1000 kilometres Governments generally impose short-haul flight bans on all citizens and businesses operating within their territory. Some exceptions for emergency situations are granted. : As part of its COVID-19 crisis support programme for Austrian Airlines in June 2020, the conservative–green coalition government introduce a special tax of 30 euros on airline tickets for flights spanning less than 350 kilometres (an unprecedented environmental measure within the EU). The Lufthansa Group further agreed to drop domestic connections that could be travelled within three hours by train. As an example, as of November 2020, the train travel time between Vienna and Graz was still too long (3 hours and 1 minute) to replace flying (35 minutes, not counting security check and waiting times), but many other short-distance flights were replaced by train connections. Since Austrian Airlines was the only carrier to offer these short-haul connections at the time of the agreement, this constitutes a de facto flight ban, even though no law has been enacted to ban such flights for airlines in general. : Although there is no such ban, its state carrier Finnair has stopped flying Helsinki-Turku and Helsinki-Tampere and now runs a bus service instead for connecting passengers. : On 3 June 2019, French MPs proposed to prohibit airline connections covering distances that could be travelled within 2.5 hours by train. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stated in April 2020 and repeated in May 2020 that negotiations between the government and Air France–KLM on such a 2.5 hour short-distance ban were underway. On 9 June 2020, as part of its COVID-19 crisis support programme for France's aviation sector, Le Maire confirmed that 2.5 hour short-distance flights would be prohibited, while Air France–KLM's domestic flights would be reduced by 40%. : In June 2013, Dutch MP Liesbeth van Tongeren (GreenLeft, previously Greenpeace Netherlands director) proposed to prohibit domestic flights in the Netherlands with the argument that they are needlessly inefficient, polluting and expensive, but Environment Secretary Wilma Mansveld (Labour Party) said such a ban would violate EU regulations that allow airlines to fly domestically. In March 2019, the House of Representatives of the Netherlands voted to prohibit commercial flights between Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Brussels Airport (Zaventem). This distance of about 150 kilometres was covered by five return flights a day, most of them feeder flights: passengers from Brussels go to Amsterdam to embark on a long-distance flight from there, or vice versa. However, Infrastructure Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (VVD) stated that such a ban was contrary to the European Commission's free market regulations and was thus not implemented. (): In 2006, Walloon Minister of Transport André Antoine prohibited airline Jet4you from making a stopover in Liège during a Charleroi–Casablanca flight, arguing that short-haul flights of fewer than 100 kilometres caused too much environmental damage. In December 2006, the European Commission confirmed that the ban did not violate any aviation agreements with Morocco, with Commissioner Jacques Barrot stating: 'The national authorities are allowed to take such measures, especially for environmental reasons.' Jet4you sued the Walloon Government, but in November 2008 the Court of First Instance in Namur confirmed the legality of the short-haul ban, rejecting Jet4you's damages claim and ordering the airline to pay 15,000 euros for court proceedings. Minister Antoine marked this as a victory and again urged the Federal Government of Belgium to introduce a countrywide prohibition on short-haul flights (which had been considered by the previous Federal Transport Minister, Renaat Landuyt). : There is no ban against short-haul flights, but several have disappeared due to lack of subsidy or competition from train and road travel. Several domestic air routes are subsidised by the government in order to have reasonable travel times between the capital and remote parts of the country. A principle has been set up when to subsidise air routes: only when no other way of travel, e.g. through an unsubsidised air route or any train route, allow four hours travel time between Stockholm Central station and any municipality centre. The idea is that same day business travel should be reasonably possible. Some air routes, and therefore airports, have been closed down due to this. Storuman Airport was closed because Vilhelmina Airport could be used for Storuman. Mora Airport was closed because train travel time went under 4 hours. More air routes have been unsubsidised, but remained on a commercial basis and municipal support, but closed during the period 2000–2020, such as from Stockholm to Borlänge, Jönköping, Karlstad, Linköping and Örebro. They have got competition from improved railways and roads or got Covid-problems. An air tax has also been introduced. Two commercially operated air routes have (as of 2023) competing train travel times below 3:30 and that is from Stockholm to Gothenburg and Växjö.
Organisations and businesses Organisations, including government organisations and NGOs, as well as commercial companies, sometimes impose short-haul restrictions on their own employees for work-related travelling, usually recommending or ordering personnel to take the train instead. Some exceptions may be granted for emergencies or destinations that are difficult to reach by train. If an employee's flight does not comply to the rules set by their employer, the travel costs will not be reimbursed. Greater London Authority: On 12 March 2008, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone banned short-haul flights for all 20,000 employees of the Greater London Authority (alias City Hall), Transport for London and London Development Agency. A City Hall report published that day stated that all travel within the UK and most continental European cities should be undertaken by rail, unless such a journey would take longer than 6 hours. A 2010 Transport for London report noted: "As train travel is less carbon-intensive than travelling by airplane many organisations now implement a ban on all short-haul flights where an equivalent journey by train of less than six hours is available". BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios): The British Broadcasting Corporation decided in October 2009 that all BBC Worldwide staff members were no longer allowed to fly domestically or on short-haul flights on the company's expenses, unless when travelling by train added more than three hours to their journeys. Additionally, they had to formally explain why a meeting could not be held using one of the BBC's five videoconferencing suites before they were cleared to book a long-haul flight. The measures were taken to reduce environmental impact and cut costs. Environment Agency: The UK government's Bristol-based Environment Agency banned its staff from making short-haul flights in June 2010, covering all of England and Wales and several destinations in continental Europe including Paris and Brussels, mandating them to travel by train instead; Edinburgh and Glasgow would still be allowed by airplane "in exceptional circumstances". The Agency had already reduced its business car mileage by 24% in 2006–2010 and wanted to set the right example in aviation, too, in part addressing public criticism over the Department of Energy and Climate Change's many avoidable domestic flights. Catholic Private University Linz: Since 2010, the KU Linz is reimbursing staff flights "only if the most convenient train connection exceeds a travel time of 8 hours and if, in addition, emissions have been compensated via atmosfair". Klarna Bank AB: After the flight shame movement emerged in Sweden in 2017, the bank Klarna decided to prohibits all its employees from flying within Europe and discourage long-haul flights. Tilburg University: The 'TiU employees business travel compensation' as adopted on 1 January 2018 states that, "due to sustainability considerations", trips to destinations abroad until 500 kilometres are "in principle" performed by public transport (meaning bus or train) or one's own mode of transport (mostly cars); beyond 500 kilometres, airplanes may be used. In case the rules are not obeyed, the TiU will not reimburse the travel costs. A February 2019 inquiry showed that, amongst the employees top 10 destinations within Europe in 2018, only one (London at no. #7) was within the 500 kilometre limit, apparently demonstrating the policy's success, although central oversight to compliance appeared to be lacking.