The Rail Thing
Why airlines and train companies are partnering to increase options for travelers on short journeys
A look at why airlines and train companies are partnering to increase options for travelers on short journeys
AN INTERCITY FLIGHT connection operated by train would have been almost unthinkable in the early 1990s, but in 2024 it will increasingly be the default experience at many European hub airports. European nations have been among the world’s leaders in adopting high-speed rail for short-distance trips, along with Asian countries such as Japan and China.
Europe now has more than 6,200 miles of highspeed railway tracks, and on routes like Barcelona to Madrid, almost 75 percent of passengers choose the Renfe train over an airplane. Advocates claim this is a boon for sustainability, as high-speed trains offer up to 98-percent reduction in carbon emissions per passenger.
But many travelers select the train because they prefer the travel experience. Local travelers enjoy the convenience of beginning and ending their journey in the city center and the elevated passenger experience on the rails: extra legroom, wider seats and high-quality meals. Business travelers also love working with a laptop for nearly the entire two-hour, 30-minute journey; there’s usually less than half an hour of productive time on the 75-minute Iberia flight. It’s little wonder that up to 30 400-plus-seat trains run daily between Madrid and Barcelona.
Short flights are on the chopping block
And yet Iberia still operates 16 daily Madrid-Barcelona flights. Passengers traveling between both cities overwhelmingly choose the train, but passengers traveling to the rest of Europe mostly want to fly. This pattern is repeated across
Europe—the need for connectivity to global airline networks has kept flight levels high. Cirium says nearly 22,000 intra-European flights are scheduled on May 17. More than a fifth of those flights cover less than 311 miles.
In response, governments across the continent are adopting aggressive regulations. For example, in 2023, France banned the sale of airline tickets between French cities with a train journey of 2.5 hours or less, and Spain proposed a similar restriction.
European airline leaders have had mixed reactions to these laws. Some, such as KLM CEO Marjan Rintel, have been supportive. “If you’re serious on reaching your sustainability goals, the train is not a competitor,” said Rintel in an interview with the Financial Times.
Others, like Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, have been far more critical. “We’ve had all this bullshit here in Brussels for the last ten years, whether it’s flight-shaming this or some-other-thing that,” said O’Leary in October. Approximately 10 percent of Ryanair’s 3,000 daily European flights are within the 311-mile radius impacted by these bans.
Regardless of the sentiments of their CEOs, European airlines will face ever growing pressure to cut back on short flights due to environmental concerns. According to the French Civil Aviation Authority, a passenger flying from Paris-Orly to Nantes generates 110 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions. A train on the same route generates just two pounds.
A continent-wide shift to rail would have massive environmental benefits. Arie Bleijenberg, chairman
of the Brussels-based Transport & Environment think tank, says that “the potential reduction in CO2 from intra-European aviation, by a modal shift from air travel to railways, is six to 11 percent of the CO2 emissions from intra-[Europe] aviation.” Trains are just fundamentally more sustainable than planes.
Air-rail connections are growing
Achieving these benefits requires deeper integration between rail and airline networks. Existing programs are widespread across Europe: Air France partners with SNCF, ITA Airways with Trenitalia, KLM with Thalys, and Iberia with Renfe. Perhaps the most successful of these partnerships is the oldest, between Lufthansa and Germany’s national rail company, Deutsche Bahn (DB). Dating back to the mid 1990s, DB transports nearly 600,000 passengers annually, and in 2022 it joined Star Alliance before launching air-rail programs with United Airlines and Air Canada.
These partnerships are reasonably integrated, with airline codes on corresponding train journeys and tickets bookable directly on the airline’s website. Passengers also receive perks and benefits corresponding with their booking class and frequent-flier status, including mileage accrual, priority service, baggage storage during layovers, and access to rail lounges.
Last summer, frequent flier Joseph McCulloch booked a business class itinerary on Air France for himself and his wife. The itinerary included a leg from New York to Paris and a connecting train ride operated by SNCF from Paris to Brussels. According to McCulloch, the experience at Paris-Charles de Gaulle was not seamless.
“Unfortunately, aside from my app showing a train icon for the Paris-Brussels leg, there was