Airplane in Sky

Air-Rail Alliances: Why Airlines Want You to go by Train for Some Trips

We might not all be Greta Thunberg, shunning air travel for weeks-long odysseys aboard Atlantic yachts, but turning our backs on short-haul flights in favor of train travel is, for many of us, a more practical enterprise.

Rather than bemoaning the loss of eco-conscious travelers, some airlines seem to be embracing this rail-orientated gear switch.

Dutch airline KLM recently announced plans to partner with European train companies Thalys and NS to replace one of its five daily flights between Amsterdam and Brussels with a high-speed rail service.

Elsewhere in Europe, Austrian Airlines is offering “AIRail,” another terrestrial service in partnership — or codeshare, in aviation parlance — with that country’s national rail operator ÖOB. In Germany, Lufthansa has a collaboration with train network, Deutsche Bahn.

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