The UK should ban domestic flights, says advocacy group
British advocacy group Campaign for Better Transport is calling on the government to ban some domestic flights to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions produced domestically by aviation.
If introduced, the ban would end several short-haul routes such as London to Manchester, London to Edinburgh and Birmingham to Glasgow. Travellers would be offered train tickets instead if the train journey is under five hours.
“Cheap domestic flights might seem a good deal when you buy them, but they are a climate disaster, generating seven times more harmful greenhouse emissions than the equivalent train journey,” said Campaign for Better Transport’s chief executive Paul Tahoy.
“The Government has led the way with bold climate ambitions, now it needs to take similarly bold actions to make those ambitions a reality.”
The group is also urging the government to make emissions labelling on plane tickets mandatory, as well as introduce a frequent flyer levy for those who take more than three international flights per year.
The charity’s plea comes a few days before the UK Government’s autumn budget and the start of COP26. Campaign for Better Transport has argued that cutting taxes on domestic flights and scrapping the Air Passenger Duty – a tax paid by airlines on passengers flights from the UK – will damage the country’s environmental credibility.