Although five times more harmful to the climate, traveling by plane is much cheaper
Christmas time is travel time. Greenpeace has taken this as an opportunity to compare the train and flight prices of the 15 most popular travel routes to and from Vienna. The results show that train travel is on average 95 percent more expensive than flights. The sad leader is the Vienna-Barcelona route, where train tickets are on average five times more expensive than air travel. At the same time, air travel is on average five times more harmful to the climate. Greenpeace denounces the extremely distorted pricing policy and calls on the EU to abolish tax benefits for climate-damaging air travel and to take measures to ensure affordable rail fares for all.
Almost one in three Europeans - around 250 million people - travel to their families or on vacation around the holidays. On average, travelers cover a distance of 500 kilometers. The study found that around one in five people book their vacation three months in advance, but most book two to one and a half months in advance. The choice of means of transportation for a
journey
a) the price and
b) the simplicity of the booking
an important role for consumers.
There is a lack of true costs
"There are still numerous tax loopholes for low-cost airlines, allowing them to engage in a veritable price war - but the climate falls by the wayside. To make it easier for people across Europe to choose climate-friendly travel, the EU must roll up its sleeves and finally ensure cost transparency. The first important steps in this direction are the introduction of a kerosene tax and the abolition of rail tolls," says Marc Dengler, climate and energy expert at Greenpeace in Austria.
Where was the train cheaper than a flight?
A total of 15 routes to and from Vienna were analyzed at three different points in time, namely Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Cologne, London, Milan, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Venice, Warsaw, Zagreb and Zurich.
Result:
- There are regular direct flights from Vienna on all fifteen routes surveyed.
- However, only eleven cities are served by direct train connections.
- On average, rail travel cost almost twice as much as air travel (+95%) on all routes surveyed.
- The most expensive rail connection is to and from Barcelona, where rail travel costs on average 5 times as much as air travel. The second most expensive rail connection is to and from London (3.7 times as expensive), followed by Stockholm (3.5 times as expensive).
- Only for journeys to Berlin, Zagreb and Zurich was the train always cheaper than a flight.
- This was most evident on the Vienna-Zagreb route, where tickets were on sale for an average of 40 euros even at Christmas time.
Price distortions due to subsidies
Rail is the most climate-friendly means of long-distance transport and produces an average of 80 percent fewer climate-damaging emissions per passenger kilometer than flying. Nevertheless, rail is systematically disadvantaged. For example, international flight tickets are exempt from VAT and no tax is levied on kerosene.
Greenpeace is calling for a legal framework that makes climate-friendly mobility the cheapest choice. To achieve this, subsidies for airports and airlines must be abolished and a Europe-wide carbon tax introduced, as the German government is already planning for domestic flights.
To make rail travel more affordable, however, VAT on train travel must be abolished and family and social tariffs expanded. The introduction of a Europe-wide climate ticket would also help to shift from air to rail travel.
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