Navan has published its 2026 Business Travel Barometer, based on its own booking data. In France, rail accounts for 85.6 % of domestic business journeys. This figure places the country fifth in Europe, behind Belgium (99.8 %), the Netherlands (99.6 %), Switzerland (97.8 %) and the United Kingdom (91.1 %), but well ahead of Austria (83 %), Germany (70 %), Italy (66.7 %) and Spain (49 %).
For Zahir Abdelouhab, Senior Vice President EMEA at Navan, this dominance of rail is driven above and beyond environmental goals by travellers making a pragmatic calculation. « The productivity gain and convenience offered by the TGV network end up winning people over », he explains. He highlights in particular the lack of airport security checks, the saving on transfers between the airport and the city centre, and the possibility of working without interruption thanks to a stable Wi-Fi connection on board.
A high-speed network supported by a favourable regulatory framework
From Paris, major economic hubs such as Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux and Marseille remain quickly accessible from city centre to city centre, a reliability that distinguishes France from Germany, where lower fares have nevertheless failed to achieve an equivalent adoption rate for rail on business journeys. The legal framework reinforces this momentum: since May 2023, the law has banned regular passenger flights whenever a direct rail alternative of less than two and a half hours exists. Added to this is the growing pressure of corporate low-carbon strategies, aligned with the carbon neutrality target set for 2050 by the National Low-Carbon Strategy, which is pushing organisations to measure and reduce emissions linked to their travel.
Paris-Toulouse and Nice-Paris, two exceptions linked to geography
The survey confirms that domestic flights are holding up, particularly on routes where geographical factors limit direct rail alternatives. Air travel thus accounts for 76 % of bookings on the Paris–Toulouse route and 95 % on the Nice–Paris route, two routes not served by a direct high-speed rail link taking less than two and a half hours. Conversely, eight of the ten main French business corridors are still predominantly travelled by train, including Lille–Paris and Paris–Strasbourg at 100 %, Nantes–Paris and Lyon–Paris at 99 %, Bordeaux–Paris at 98 %, Marseille–Paris at 82 % and Montpellier–Paris at 73 %.
For businesses, these corridor-by-corridor differences provide a concrete benchmark: the travel policy can mandate the train without reservation on eight major routes, while retaining a margin of discretion for Nice-Paris and Paris-Toulouse, where the plane remains, for now, the only competitive direct option in terms of travel time.
