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🆕 Updated July 30, 2026 : This article already included data from the Climate Action Network report (2024). We have expanded it with the results of a new study by the Mobile Lives Forum (June 2026, Yoann Demoli & Pierre Lannoy), which confirms and refines the same finding using a different methodology.
“Why should we deny ourselves something when others were able to enjoy it without restriction before us?” When it comes to environmental issues, if there’s ONE topic that really brings tensions to a head as the holidays approach, it’s definitely air travel.
In September 2024, the Climate Action Network published a report a fascinating story that puts the church back at the heart of the village: “How can we reduce air traffic in a fair and effective way?”. The association responds to advocates of air travel and technosolutionism with 55 pages of statistical data to explain why, but also how reduce air traffic in France. Most importantly, it evaluates nine concrete measures and debunks a few common misconceptions along the way!
Since then, a second study has confirmed and refined this finding: the one by the Mobile Lives Forum, published in June 2026 by sociologists Yoann Demoli and Pierre Lannoy, based on a survey of 1,631 people and an analysis of 4,669 flights. We’ll explain everything to you in light of these two studies.
Have low-cost airlines made air travel more accessible? No. Two separate studies (RAC 2024 and Forum Vies Mobiles 2026) show that it has primarily enabled already affluent households to travel even more frequently: 74.7% of those with incomes over €6,000 per month have already taken a low-cost flight, compared to 33.6% of those with incomes under €1,500 per month.
Which region has the highest concentration of flights in France? A very small minority: 20% of passengers account for 76% of flights and 89.5% of the total distance traveled. The top 3% of frequent flyers alone account for 25% of flights.
Which flights have the greatest impact on the climate? Long-haul flights: 12.5% of flights account for 48.6% of the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions (FVM 2026 figures, consistent with the 55% estimated by the Climate Action Network (RAC) in 2024 based on a slightly different scope).
What solutions are on the table? A progressive frequent flyer tax (proposed by the Climate Action Network) or an air travel credit of two round trips per year per person (proposed by the Forum Vies Mobiles), two different mechanisms with the same goal: targeting the most frequent travelers rather than occasional travelers.
But by the way, Who are the people who fly, and where are they going? ? When we compare the two studies, the sociological portrait of French passengers is indisputable and debunks the most widespread clichés. This gives us some talking points for the next heated debates with friends.
One might think that the rise of companies Low Cost has enabled less affluent families to travel more often. However, the first surprise—confirmed by both studies—is that: flights Low Cost did not lead to more people flying, but they did lead those who were already flying to do so even more often.
The Climate Action Network’s report had already shown this in 2024: French people who fly are mainly affluent city dwellers (a resident of the Paris region is twice as likely as a resident of a rural area to fly, all other things being equal), often senior executives, traveling for leisure.
Source: © Climate Action Network - “How Can We Reduce Air Traffic in a Fair and Effective Way?”
The Forum Vies Mobiles study (2026) provides specific figures on this disparity in the use of low-cost options: 74.7% of households with an income of more than €6,000 per month have already flown with a low-cost airline, compared with only 33.6% of households with an income of less than €1,500 per month. In other words, "Air travel is mostly a means of transportation for wealthy city dwellers going on vacation".
The gap widens with age. Source: Forum Vies Mobiles, 2026
This is where the Forum Vies Mobiles study (2026) provides the most striking insight, shifting its focus from categories of theft to the actual number of people affected: 20% of passengers account for 76.1% of flights, and the top 3% of frequent flyers alone account for 25% of them.
Non-travelers, occasional travelers, hyper-mobile travelers: the share of each group in the French population and in the distances traveled by air (2022–2024). Source: Forum Vies Mobiles, 2026
As for emissions, the Climate Action Network had already determined in 2024 that The wealthiest 20% of the French population account for 40.4% of flights and 41.5% of the sector's greenhouse gas emissions. Two different methodologies, one conclusion: air travel (and thus its impact on the climate) is concentrated among a very small minority and is not evenly distributed across the population.
Regarding the breakdown by motive for theft, the RAC also notes that Leisure flights account for 75% of CO2 emissions from French people who fly. Business flights, on the other hand, rank only second (tied (including family trips), which account for “only” 13% of greenhouse gas emissions.
We also learn that business flights are mostly taken by affluent individuals—primarily men in their forties—while family flights are taken by lower-income households to visit relatives abroad.
On this subject, the numbers are undeniable: Most greenhouse gas emissions are caused by long-haul flights. As early as 2024, the Climate Action Network noted that, even though long-haul flights (i.e., outside France, Europe, and North Africa) account for only 20% of all flights, they are responsible for more than 55% of the aviation sector's carbon footprint.
Conversely, while flights to metropolitan France (11%), Europe (26%), and the Maghreb (8%) account for three-quarters of all flights, they are responsible for less than half of the emissions.
Source: © Climate Action Network - “How Can We Reduce Air Traffic in a Fair and Effective Way?”
The Forum Vies Mobiles study (2026) refines this observation with a more precise definition of long-haul flights (over 3,500 km): 12.5% of flights, but 48.6% of the aviation sector's greenhouse gas emissions. Conversely, flights to Southern Europe—the top destination for French travelers, accounting for 29.5% of flights—account for only 16.3% of emissions, thanks to shorter distances and the availability of rail or sea alternatives.
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Source: Forum Vies Mobiles, 2026 (DGAC 2024)
Conclusion of the two studies: if we are serious about decarbonizing the aviation industry, It's impossible to ignore long-haul flights, which account for the bulk of the climate problem despite their small share of total flights...
Technological solutions (such as biofuels, for example) are, of course, useful and welcome, and they offer hope. But according to the organization, they won’t be enough. And here’s why.
It already exists for flying clubs and is being deployed by the aviation industry on very short routes (a few hundred kilometers; the weight of the batteries currently prevents flights over longer distances). The problem is that, as we have seen, these short routes account for only "that a very small portion of the sector's emissions". And most importantly, there’s already an efficient train alternative available on many of these routes in France!
It could eventually decarbonize some short- and medium-haul flights. The problem: it currently relies on "many technological ventures" which cast doubt on its future. In the most optimistic scenario, its full deployment would not be achieved until after 2050. Moreover, this technology is not being considered for long-haul flights, which account for the bulk of the sector’s carbon footprint.
They can be blended with kerosene, so they do not require new equipment, and they can be produced at reasonable costs. The problem: biomass is limited and is already being used or sought after by other sectors, "which raises issues of competition for land use (fertilization of farmland, heat production from biomass, etc.)". Given France's target of 5% biofuels by 2030, the impact on the sector's emissions will remain modest in the coming years.
Produced from renewable electricity, water, and CO2, they can help combat climate change ("provided that the necessary CO2 is biogenic or captured directly from the air"). The problem: overall efficiency is low, so the amount of electricity required is enormous. "According to Lufthansa's CEO, it would take 50% of Germany's electricity production to convert its entire fleet to synthetic fuels. Without a reduction in air traffic, it seems unrealistic to develop sufficient production capacity, especially since the industrial infrastructure does not yet exist.", the RAC study points out.
👉 To learn more about the physical limitations of technological solutions, we recommend our article on the report The Shift Project x AÉRO DÉCARBO, published in early 2026:
Article
Can we decarbonize aviation without slowing down traffic?
In this context, if we are to comply with the Paris Agreement, a decline in air traffic seems inevitable…
For the Climate Action Network, the question is no longer " Should we "reduce air traffic" but " how "reduce it" in an effective and socially just manner.
And that's for one simple reason: The aviation sector accounts for 6.4% of CO2 emissions in France (excluding the impact of contrails), and it is the only mode of transportation whose emissions continue to rise rapidly (+2.7% per year since 2010, according to a study by the Forum Vies Mobiles). Its use has doubled in 20 years, and projections anticipate another doubling by 2040.
Source: France 2 - News broadcast on Wednesday, September 20, 2024
Worse still: since the end of the health crisis, air traffic has resumed its rapid growth, driven by international flights and low-cost carriers. On July 23, 2026, the global aviation industry even set a historic record with 153,359 commercial flights in 24 hours.
Source: CITEPA Secten 2019 / Aurélien Bigo
If you want to hear from someone who’s been through it, we recommend the story of Anthony Viaux, a former airline pilot, who sat down with us to share his fascinating journey and his drastic decision to leave aviation after a career spanning more than 20 years.
Aware of the aviation industry’s environmental impacts, he shares with us his growing environmental awareness and his transition toward a career more in line with his values. This courageous account sheds light on the dilemmas faced by those who, while loving their profession, find themselves confronted with an increasingly pressing cognitive dissonance.
To learn more about his story and his vision for aviation, from the inside:
For the association, the priority is to deter the minority that flies most often. And for good reason: "The wealthiest 20% of French people account for 41.5% of greenhouse gas emissions from air travel by French households" and "40.4% of thefts are committed by the wealthiest 20%" !
Among Climate Action Network’s flagship proposals is a bold measure that caused quite a stir when it was first announced (and was rejected outright by the airlines): the "frequent traveler tax". The idea? A progressive tax that increases based on the distance traveled and the frequency of flights. It would therefore be very low for the first flight of the year and very high for the fifth flight. According to the association, this measure would make it possible to reduce emissions from the aviation sector by 13%, while placing the bulk of the burden on the most frequent passengers.
Two years later, the Forum Vies Mobiles is proposing a different approach to achieve the same goal: a Two round-trip trips per year per person for personal travel (excluding business flights, which are handled separately). This credit would be personalized (automatically verified via the reservation number (PNR) already used by airlines), and would not be carryoverable or transferable from one year to the next, to prevent the accumulation of credits. According to the study, this measure would reduce air traffic by 24% and emissions by 5.3 million metric tons of CO2 per year, while still allowing the 90% of French people who already take two round trips or fewer each year to continue traveling.
The Forum Vies Mobiles study goes even further by showing that these habits are formed as early as childhood. We’ll explain this in detail in our featured article.
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Airplanes: Why Do Some People Fly Their Whole Lives (and Others Never Do)?
Progressive tax or flat-rate credit: both mechanisms are based on the same premise (targeting the heaviest users rather than the occasional trips taken by the majority), but with different rationales (price-based deterrence vs. a per-person cap). Neither measure is currently enshrined in French law; at this stage, they remain proposals for think tanks.
In total, the Climate Action Network proposes 9 solutions in its report to regulate the sector and curb climate change. From the simplest measures (such as raising the “Chirac Tax” on airline tickets, with a higher rate for chartered private jets, as proposed by the Citizens’ Convention on Climate Change) to the most radical (such as banning people from flying more than once a year per person).
Source: © Climate Action Network - “How Can We Reduce Air Traffic in a Fair and Effective Way?”
As you might expect, we couldn’t wrap up this article without mentioning the ultimate low-carbon alternative: the train. It’s essential to consider ways to reduce air travel, but in our view, the battle is also being fought in the realm of public perception.
Making train travel appealing through positive stories is exactly what motivates us to get up every morning at HOORAY!. By offering Turnkey train itineraries and by showing that it's possible to make train travel cheerful and approachable, even if it means going to the ends of the earth (as evidenced by the experiences of Delphine and Arnaud all the way to Indonesia, or even Victor and Léa All the Way to Taiwan), we definitely plan to get the trip back on track!
And because this battle will also be fought on the financial front, to sign our petition calling for a reduction in rail tolls, It's here.
💌 So you don't miss any analysis like this one, sign up for La Locomissive, our biweekly newsletter: low-carbon travel inspiration and great tips, delivered for free to your inbox.
For more information, you can check out the Full report from the Climate Action Network or the Summary of the Forum Vies Mobiles Study.
Issue du monde de la communication et des médias, Sophie est Responsable éditoriale chez HOURRAIL ! depuis août 2024. Elle est notamment derrière le contenu éditorial du site ainsi que La Locomissive (de l'inspiration voyage bas carbone et des bons plans, un jeudi sur deux, gratuitement dans ta boîte mail !).
Convaincue que les changements d’habitude passent par la transformation de nos imaginaires, elle s’attache à montrer qu’il est possible de voyager autrement, de manière plus consciente, plus lente et plus joyeuse. Son objectif : rendre le slow travel accessible à toutes et tous, à travers des astuces, des décryptages et surtout, de nouveaux récits.
