WRITTEN QUESTION E-3387/00

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(3 November 2000)

Subject: Persuading people to travel short distances by air on routes with frequent rail services

1. Is the Commission aware that, in the Netherlands, the airline Air France advertises discounts for frequent travellers on the Amsterdam-Paris route? Anyone who flies on the route five times is entitled a free sixth flight.

2. Is an advertising campaign of this kind compatible with the major investments made in the construction of high-speed railway lines in the past 20 years, which, thanks to the provision of fast and frequent trains from city centre to city centre, afford an alternative means of transport almost as quick as flying, thus rendering air travel superfluous for passengers on short and middle-distance routes of up to 1 000 km?

3. Does not the Commission agree that, not least on account of the necessary restrictions on land use for airports and on the noise they generate, it is desirable to discourage people from flying and to promote rail travel, and that this particularly applies to the route between Amsterdam and Paris, whose airports are running out of capacity despite their expansion, while moreover there is at least one train every hour on the route as a whole and while on the section between Brussels and Paris the high-speed line was completed several years ago?

4. Is the Commission aware of any other cases in which, despite the existence of a high-speed international rail service, airlines are seeking to maximise their market share?

5. What practical measures will the Commission adopt in order to discourage the use of aircraft to travel distances under 1000 km and to improve the competitive position of the railways?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(21 December 2000)

The Commission is not aware of the specific discount scheme, advertised by Air France, for travellers on the Amsterdam-Paris route. The described pricing policy appears to be compatible in the context of a liberalised transport market, where prices are established by the normal functioning of the market mechanism.

Such advertising campaigns are normal commercial practice compatible with the principle of freedom to provide transport services and the principle of free choice of transport mode. The decision whether or not to offer transport services between different origin-destinations is taken by the transport companies offering those services.

The Commission is fully aware of the capacity and environmental problems at a number of airports and has addressed those problems in its communication Air Transport and Environment(1), in which it highlighted the role of other transport modes, in particular the alternatives which high-speed rail can offer to ease pressure on ATM-systems and to facilitate the situation at congested airports. In this respect, the Commission will continue to accelerate its efforts to make rail transport more competitive and better integrated, facilitating replacement of shorter flights by rail transport.

On the one hand the Commission is of the opinion that efforts to optimise market shares are normal practice in competitive markets. On the other hand, the Commission believes that an harmonisation of the conditions of competition between different transport modes is necessary with a view to fair competition. Other cases exist where passengers have the choice between rail transport and air transport (e.g. London-Brussels, Paris-Brussels) and where airlines and railways are both trying to optimise their market shares, taking into account the underlying cost structures. This is the consequence of a market-driven process whereby the decision to offer transport services is taken by the rail and airline companies concerned. At the same time decisions on launching intermodal cooperation are also taken by the service providers themselves, as has been the case for the Brussels-Paris and Frankfurt-Stuttgart routes.

The rail transport and air transport sector are not only competitors but also complementary elements in the transport chain. In that light the Commission will endeavour to establish the necessary conditions for a balanced development of the different transport modes and intermodality, making the best possible use of their comparative advantages. This involves in particular a framework for fair competition and measures which promote the integration of different modes of transport, such as common reservation systems, common security rules, integrated baggage handling and compatible ticketing systems.

The forthcoming white paper on transport policy will address a range of measures with a view to a better integration of rail transport in the logistics chain.

(1) COM(1999) 640 final.