Climate Hysteria: France Pushes Harsh New Airfare Plan to Save the Planet
For roughly the cost of a fast-food meal at Wendy’s, Europeans can buy a plane ticket to various destinations.
But those days may soon be coming to an end, as France’s chief transportation official has expressed fears that the practice is harmful to the environment.
Clément Beaune told news magazine L’Obs that airlines should no longer be allowed to offer bargain-basement airfares, the U.K. Telegraph reported.
“Plane tickets at €10 [about $10.80 in U.S. dollars], at a time of ecological transition, this is no longer possible,” he said in the interview. “This does not reflect the price for the planet.”
Beaune said he plans to present a proposal for the European Union to ban bargain airfares to drive up the price of plane tickets as part of “the fight against social and environmental dumping,” according to the report.
“Earlier this month, the minister announced the possibility of hiking taxes on plane tickets, ‘not for the pleasure of taxing,’ but to finance investments in ecological transition, namely rail travel,” the Telegraph reported.
Beaune proposed setting minimum airfare prices in the E.U. “as a way to reduce air travel and carbon emissions,” the U.K. Express reported.
“I openly call for taxing polluting activities to invest in the ecological transition,” Beaune said.
France has been leading the charge to cut its carbon footprint. In May, the government banned domestic flights to destinations that travelers could reach by train in less than two and a half hours.
“The measure, however, was criticized for not being impactful enough, as it only affected three main flight routes connecting Paris-Orly Airport with Bordeaux, Lyon and Nantes,” the Express reported.
The changes have been applauded by environmental groups, who view frequent fliers as among the worst climate offenders. But some don’t think France’s measures go far enough or target the right people.
“Anything that makes airlines pay a fair share of the environmental cost that they create is a good thing,” said Jon Worth, founder of Trains for Europe, according to Euronews. His organization is pushing to increase the number of train routes, especially at night, in the E.U.
“But we should be dealing with frequent flyers, and this does not deal with them. It might reduce nice city weekends for some people, but it’s not going to stop or reduce this regular flying elite.”
Did you know in the UK, 15% of people take 70% of all flights?!
The Frequent Flyer Levy:
🌍 Fly more, pay more- simple.
🌍 Cuts air travel without making flights more expensive for most of us, who don’t fly often.
🌍 Cash from tax could support airline workers into green jobs. pic.twitter.com/PDzw8oQjlO— Possible (@_wearepossible) September 11, 2020
The outlet reported that only 2 percent of people in France take 50 percent of all flights, citing data from the environmental group Possible.
Fifteen percent of British people take 70 percent of flights, and 8 percent of the Dutch take 42 percent of flights.
Another environmental group, Greenpeace, reported in July that train tickets in the E.U. cost twice as much as airline tickets.
WARNING: The following social media post contains language some may find offensive.
New analysis reveals train travel is twice as expensive as the polluting flight for the same trip in Europe.
European governments need to make train travel more affordable than #BullshitFlights!#BetterByTrain #ClimateTicketshttps://t.co/XUqXSgGF5n pic.twitter.com/EGknuSDVbp
— Greenpeace International (@Greenpeace) July 20, 2023
“European governments need to make train travel more affordable than #Bulls***Flights!” the organization declared in a social media post.
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