Air France KLM has recently announced that it will offer high-speed rail travel in addition to adjusting its winter seat capacity to manage the rising fuel costs. Notably, the airline is the biggest in the world in terms of revenues. Earlier this year, the carrier pulled out of a bid to release Italy's Alitalia. The airline is competing with the emerging transatlantic partnership between British Airways, American Airlines and Spain's Iberia.

In its one of its statements addressed to the media, the airline confirmed that it was seriously considering a high-speed rail alliance with Veolia, the French utility that operates several rail connections. However, Veolia is not very active with respect to high-speed travel, which is dominated by state-owned firms like SNCF, Deutsche Bahn, Thalys and Eurostar.

An Air France-KLM spokesman noted, "As part of the opening to competition of rail transport in 2010, Air France and Veolia are looking into the possibility of a partnership to create a new high-speed rail player on the European scene. We are reviewing the feasibility and possibility of such a project, but it is too early to discuss its terms."

On Friday, the Financial Times said that as per the agreement, Veolia Transport could be seen operating trains under the Air France brand connecting the airline's hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to several destinations across Europe. Most notably, this move might mark the decline of short-haul air travel routes including Paris-Frankfurt, which are now served by high-speed links.