HAS at a time when domestic flights are prohibited between two cities, when a train line connects them in less than 2.5 hours, it is obviously in the interest of Air France and the SNCF to boost the “Train + Air” service. This is all the more relevant as the travel policy of certain large companies, which seek to green their travel, goes even further than the law by prohibiting their employees from taking the plane when there is a less expensive train alternative. four hours. Last May, Clément Beaune, Minister of Transport raised, for his part, the possibility of toughening the rule by extending it to 3-hour alternatives “ if the rail offer improves ».
The offer “ Train + Air », which was launched 30 years ago, is enriched this Friday with 8 additional connections: Aix-en-Provence, Arras, Laval and Lille Flandres to Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly and Perpignan airports, to Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.
This extension of the network brings to 41 the number of TGV Inoui connections offered by Air France as part of this service, now available from 22 stations: Aix-en-Provence TGV, Angers Saint-Laud, Arras, Avignon TGV, Bordeaux Saint-Jean, Champagne-Ardenne TGV, Le Mans, Laval, Lille Europe, Lille Flandres, Lorraine TGV, Lyon Part-Dieu, Marseille Saint-Charles, Montpellier Saint-Roch, Nantes, Nîmes, Perpignan, Poitiers, Rennes, Saint -Pierre-des-Corps, Strasbourg and Valence TGV.
A fully digitalized journey
In practice, with the offer “ Train + Air “, customers benefit from a single reservation for their entire trip and a guaranteed seat on the next available flight or train, free of charge, in the event of a train or plane delay. Since 2022, their journey has been fully digitalized: passengers can register online on the Air France website before departure, for their entire trip, including the train journey.
These digital tickets thus make it possible to directly combine intermodal TGV and plane journeys, passing through Paris-Orly and Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airports with, in addition to Air France, eleven companies: Air Austral, Air Caraibes, Air Tahiti Nui, Air Transat, Corsair, Emirates, Etihad, French Bee, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and Vietnam Airlines. HAS note: Air France La Première or Business customers traveling in first class on SNCF Voyageurs trains.
The break in load remains a brake
Some 3 million travelers take the train each year to reach the two Paris airports, said the SNCF at the end of 2022, which then set itself the objective of selling 600,000 intermodal tickets.Train + Air » within five years – But then, how many are we today?. But, according to a study by the BearingPoint firm, published at the end of 2021, “ Air and iron, what if you took both? “, the obstacles are still numerous, like the load break (what is it?) between the connecting station and the airport with the baggage problem in the background.
« Today, we have five of the ten largest French airports which do not have a direct rail connection, necessarily generating a shortage of load. », observed Laetitia Chatain, manager dedicated to transport at BearingPoint.
Among them, Toulouse-Blagnac airport. Conversely, BearingPoint highlighted the RhôneExpress, which allows a direct connection between the city of Lyon station and its airport despite a break in load, or the CGC Express project which should only enter service around 2026 .
(With AFP)
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