German Left’s Former Leader Calls for Ban on Short-Haul Flights Under 500km
Janine Wissler, the former leader of Germany’s Left party, has urged the government to ban short-haul flights of under 500 kilometers in the future. In an interview with the Rheinische Post, Wissler emphasized that the goal is to make such flights unnecessary by offering a strong rail network and fair prices. She also expressed the intention to gradually prohibit these flights, especially in areas where good rail connections already exist.
Wissler stressed the need to prioritize environmentally friendly alternatives, such as rail travel and to make the necessary investments, reduce prices and establish clear rules to achieve this goal. According to her, it is unacceptable that rail travel is often more expensive than flights, which have a significant environmental impact.
The call for a ban on short-haul flights is backed by recent data from the German government’s response to a small inquiry by the Left party. The figures show that in the past year, 48 percent of flights to and from Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s largest airport, had a maximum distance of 1,000 kilometers. The most frequently used domestic route was the Frankfurt-Berlin route, with over 9,200 takeoffs and landings in the past year, followed by Hamburg and Munich, with around 8,300 takeoffs and landings each.