German aviation & DB to move 43m domestic flights to rail (RailTech)

The Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL) and Deutsche Bahn (DB) are launching a joint action plan to bring about a shift from domestic flights to the railways. In the declaration signed today in Berlin, the two parties announce that they will be taking measures to improve the connectivity between the two modes of transport and offering faster connections between major cities.

The aviation industry and Deutsche Bahn see the potential that 20 percent of people that currently travel by plane within Germany will choose the train instead. In the following years, the partners want to tap into this potential. With attractive offers and ongoing infrastructure expansion, BDL and DB want to attract around 4.3 million passengers to switch to the train.

Reducing CO2 emissions

In 2019, the aviation industry recorded around 23 million travellers. 8 million of these were passengers on feeder traffic to hub airports, and 15 million on purely domestic trips. As a result, the share of domestic air traffic in Germany’s CO2 emissions could potentially be reduced by a sixth, according to DB.

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