KLM Wants You to Take the Train Instead
Jennifer Billock July 08, 2019
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines launched a new sustainability campaign that suggests passengers do one very odd thing for an airline to request: to take the train or do a video call instead of hopping on a flight to you’d like to go. The campaign is an effort to cut the airline’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Local reports of the massive carbon dioxide emissions of planes has brought about a certain “flight shame,” where people don’t want to travel by plane (or look down on those who do) because of the flight’s impact on the environment.
In response to this, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has released a new advertisement with a novel idea, at least coming from an airline company: just don’t fly. Take the train or do a video call instead when you don’t really have to take a plane.
“Do you always have to meet face-to-face?” the ad asks, reported by Bloomberg. “Could you take the train instead?”
The goal of the ad isn’t exactly to stop flying completely, it’s just to help bring awareness to the environmental impact and curb KLM’s carbon dioxide emissions.
“We are a company that needs to make a profit to survive…We want to still be around when we have succeeded in our efforts to make aviation sustainable,” the airline said in a statement reported by Bloomberg.
This campaign comes in light of proposed aviation taxes throughout Europe and the idea of banning all domestic flights altogether in cases where a train covers the same route as the flight.
[Featured Image: KLM]
I suggest that the EU bans flying altogether. If one is willing to suffer a time delay due to a train, they can travel by steamer ship to their destination. Heck, FT can ban those with an European IP address and redirect them to CruiseCritic.
Trains here in Europe can be convenient but they are very unreliable. Commuting to an airport hub by train is not the best plan, unless you have a rail & fly option on a single PNR. Interesting to see KLM's communication strategy which is just following the current climate/CO2 hysterics of the mainstream media and politicians. Was expecting a more differentiated position from them.
We also have an airline that discourages flying. It's called American.
..." the idea of banning all domestic flights altogether in cases where a train covers the same route as the flight." Law of unintended consequences. I just flew from Valencia Spain to Chicago O'Hare. Connection was Barcelona. Except if banning flights where a train covers the same route happens, I would have to have figured out trains in a foreign country and manage additional ground transportation. So no more Iberia. Hello BA with LHR connection instead.