Malte Kleinwort, 46, never felt bad about flying. That’s until last year, when Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg changed his mind. Now he is one of a growing number of Germans to abandon short-haul flights in favour of the train.

“Before, I didn’t feel any flight shame at all really,” said Kleinwort, a research associate at the Ruhr University Bochum. “I felt I shouldn’t fly too much, but it was cheap and I got to my destination quickly.”

Then, last summer, he took his nine-year-old daughter to a Fridays for Future demonstration, the weekly climate protests inspired by Thunberg. Hearing activists’ pleas for travellers to use more environmentally friendly modes of transport, Kleinwort felt moved to make a change.

Now he belongs to a group of 3,000 German-speaking academics who have pledged not to fly distances under 1,000 km (621 miles) – journeys of up to 12 hours on the train.

Kleinwort isn’t alone in cutting down on flying. Last September, a survey for UBS investment bank found 23% of German respondents had forgone at least one flight in the past year for environmental reasons.



At first glance, figures appear to show the trend is hitting German aviation. Passenger numbers on German domestic flights fell sharply last year, with the German Airports Association (ADV) registering a 12% drop year on year in November.

So, is flight shame to blame?