In return for its billions in aid, the government in Paris imposed environmental requirements on Air France. By 2030, the airline must reduce its CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer by 50 percent and cover two percent of its fuel consumption with biofuel by 2025.
It must also discontinue domestic flights if the route can be covered by high-speed train within two and a half hours. Air France therefore plans to reduce its domestic flights by 40 percent by 2021.
«Obviously unthinkable»
The cancelled routes cannot not be taken over by the competition, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, Secretary of State for Transport, recently told broadcaster RTL. «It is obviously unthinkable that operators of any kind, especially low-cost operators, should be allowed to take them over. We will therefore adopt a regulation for environmental reasons, which is of course compatible with European law, so that there will be no distortion of competition,» he added.
