The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, proposes to cancel the air route between the Catalan city and Madrid. The goal is to reduce pollution by replacing flights with high-speed trains (which in Spain are called Ave). To date, getting from one city to another by rail takes just under three hours, while by plane it takes less than an hour and a half. However, also considering the transfers to and from the airports, in the end the times are very similar.
In reality, the decision is not up to Colau, but the mayor still decided to ask the international airport of Barcelona, El Prat, to cancel the flight between the two main cities of the country, known in Spain as "air bridge". This would be the first step in a strategy that aims to eliminate all internal air routes for which the alternative of a rail link exists.
In ecological terms, Colau's position is impeccable: the Barcelona-Madrid flight produces an average pollution of 60-80 kilos of CO2 per passenger, while the train does not exceed 4,9-7,25 kilos.
The Catalan mayor is not new to environmental initiatives. From January XNUMX, in Barcelona the low emission zone is active (Zbe): means that petrol cars registered before 2000 and diesel cars registered before 2005 cannot enter the city on weekdays from 7 to 20. The objective of the measure is to reduce pollution by 15%. However, the port of Barcelona (managed by the central government) and the airport, which however is located in a different municipality, El Prat de Llobregat, are excluded from the ZBE.
But regardless of the response that Colau's proposal will get, it is undeniable that many have already decided to replace the flight with the train. Travelers who chose the plane decreased from 4,9 million in 2008 to 2,3 million in 2019, while in the same period people who opted for high speed increased from 2 to 4,3 million. A growth destined to accelerate, given that prices will go down: not only the Spanish company Renfe (up to now monopolist) has decided to introduce a low cost version of high speed, but from next year the sector will also be open to competition, with the arrival of Trenitalia and of the French of Sncf.
However, the Catalan mayor's proposal met the opposition of the industrialists of Madrid and Barcelona: "Two cosmopolitan cities must have all possible connections: air, sea, rail and road", reads a joint statement from the business associations of the two cities.
