Air France has been forced to abandon numerous domestic routes due to the environmental protection requirements imposed by the government as a condition for state aid. The basic rule is: If two cities are connected by train within 2,5 hours, you are no longer allowed to fly. Incidentally, this also applies to competitors.

Air France is therefore forced to give up some routes. The first stretch concert mainly concerns destinations that were previously offered from Paris-Orly: Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes and Rennes. From Lyon, the domestic route to Marseille must be discontinued. Only non-stop flights are affected. Transfer connections or flights with a stopover are not covered by the government's orders.

However, it is unlikely that Air France will make stopovers in order to circumvent the government's ban. In practice it has been shown time and again that passengers like to use the railroad when the travel time from city center to city center is less than that of an airplane. A prominent example of this is Berlin-Hamburg: there used to be a real airlift into the Hanseatic city from Tempelhof and Tegel. After the expansion of the ICE high-speed route between the two metropolises, the total travel time by rail fell so sharply that flying - including the lead time - became unattractive. However, the elimination of competition also led to rising prices for the railways.