More companies swapping business flights for trains

Many large companies require their employees to take the train or car for short business trips instead of the plane. Almost all Dutch multinationals want the reduce their number of business flights, NU.nl reports after speaking to 15 multinationals and the national government.

Seven institutions banned short-haul flights. Others tightened their travel rules, according to the newspaper. Pre-pandemic, flights of less than 750 kilometers to and from Dutch airports caused 3.5 megatons of CO2 emissions per year, Royal HaskoningDHV found in a 2019 study. 

Accountancy firms PwC and Deloitte are strictest with their flight policy. They only allow employees to take the plane to destinations further than 700 kilometers away. The national government banned flights to destinations that can be reached by train within eight hours. Rabobank doesn't allow flights for destinations within 600 kilometers and Aegon within 500 kilometers. EY employees can only take the plane if the destination is over 400 kilometers or more than four hours away. KPMG banned flying to all "destinations within Europe that are easily accessible by train."

Companies that do not have a specific ban on short flights told NU.nl that they want to reduce the number of business flights. "Due to the increased possibilities of digital meetings, we only want to fly in special cases," ABN Amro said. AkzoNobel holds online meetings unless a trip is "really necessary." KPN said it had hardly any business flights during the pandemic, and "we want to keep that line as much as possible." Friesland Campina only allows "business-critical" air travel.