Why airlines want you to go by train

Some airlines seem to be embracing a rail-orientated gear switch. 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. So are these down-to-earth moves by air carriers being made for the sake of the environment, or the bottom line? There's clearly a business rationale. Replacing short-haul flights with trains frees up landing and departure slots at busy airports that can be used for more lucrative long-haul services. They also make the airline look greener, even if there's no long-run difference to its carbon footprint. As train expert Mark Smith, founder of rail route encyclopedia The Man in Seat 61, puts it, airlines replacing flight routes with train services combines both "good PR" and "hard commercial reason." "There is this trend towards lower carbon travel and the airlines are aware that this is something they can be seen to be doing," Smith said. "This sort of nods towards that, whilst actually there are sound commercial reasons for doing it, by freeing up the long haul slots."<br/>