Ryanair threatens to axe flights to France over proposed eco tax

The budget airline Ryanair has threatened to axe half of its flights to French regional airports over a proposal to increase the €3 ‘eco tax’ on plane tickets.

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One of the measures in the French 2025 budget – currently on a tortured journey through the parliament – is to increase the environmental surtax on plane tickets.
The taxe sur la solidarité des billets d’avion (TSBA) currents adds a flat fee of €3 for ticket for economy flights (€18 for first class flights) – prime minister Michel Barnier’s budget contains a proposal to increase that, reportedly tripling it to €9 per ticket. 
READ ALSO What’s in France’s 2025 Budget?
Ryanair’s commerical director Jason McGuinness told 20minutes: “Ryanair is currently reviewing its French programmes and expects to reduce capacity to and from French regional airports by up to 50 percent from January 2025 if the French government pursues its short-sighted plan.”

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The airline’s threat focuses on ‘regional’ airports so is not thought to include Paris Beauvais – Ryanair currently operates from 22 French airports, but the company did not clarify which airports could be affected by its threat.
It has recently pulled out of Bordeaux airport in a separate dispute over airport fees.
France’s 2025 Budget is intended to address the country’s spiralling budget deficit and includes €40 million of spending cuts and €20 million in extra taxes, including a higher tax rate on big businesses and the country’s highest earners.

In addition to the increase in the TSBA airline tax – which was first introduced under President Jacques Chirac in 2005  – it contains provisions for extra taxes on private jets.
The fragile parliamentary situation means that the Budget’s journey through parliament has been tricky – a heavily amended version was rejected by the Assemblée nationale so debates have now moved on to the Senate.
Barnier may be forced to use the constitutional power known as Article 49.3 to order to push his budget through the deadlocked parliament – but doing so risks a no-confidence vote which could bring down his fragile coalition government.
 

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Comments (3)

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Pam

2024/11/22 13:21

I don’t mind paying an extra 9€, if it’s put towards reducing emissions from flights. I have reduced the number of flights I take, to two a year (ie, shorthaul, there and back), but I’d rather that flights remained available, please.

Ian

2024/11/21 19:18

Seems like an empty threat to me. 9€ might double the ticket price, but it’s still cheap! People will be happy to pay!

Steve Morris

2024/11/21 17:12

Ryanair’s commerical director Jason McGuinness told 20minutes: “Ryanair is currently reviewing its French programmes and expects to reduce capacity to and from French regional airports by up to 50 percent from January 2025 if the French government pursues its short-sighted plan.” What is short sighted about taxing air travel?

See Also

One of the measures in the French 2025 budget – currently on a tortured journey through the parliament – is to increase the environmental surtax on plane tickets.
The taxe sur la solidarité des billets d’avion (TSBA) currents adds a flat fee of €3 for ticket for economy flights (€18 for first class flights) – prime minister Michel Barnier’s budget contains a proposal to increase that, reportedly tripling it to €9 per ticket. 
READ ALSO What’s in France’s 2025 Budget?
Ryanair’s commerical director Jason McGuinness told 20minutes: “Ryanair is currently reviewing its French programmes and expects to reduce capacity to and from French regional airports by up to 50 percent from January 2025 if the French government pursues its short-sighted plan.”
The airline’s threat focuses on ‘regional’ airports so is not thought to include Paris Beauvais – Ryanair currently operates from 22 French airports, but the company did not clarify which airports could be affected by its threat.
It has recently pulled out of Bordeaux airport in a separate dispute over airport fees.
France’s 2025 Budget is intended to address the country’s spiralling budget deficit and includes €40 million of spending cuts and €20 million in extra taxes, including a higher tax rate on big businesses and the country’s highest earners.
In addition to the increase in the TSBA airline tax – which was first introduced under President Jacques Chirac in 2005  – it contains provisions for extra taxes on private jets.
The fragile parliamentary situation means that the Budget’s journey through parliament has been tricky – a heavily amended version was rejected by the Assemblée nationale so debates have now moved on to the Senate.
Barnier may be forced to use the constitutional power known as Article 49.3 to order to push his budget through the deadlocked parliament – but doing so risks a no-confidence vote which could bring down his fragile coalition government.