France next year plans to introduce an "eco tax"
ranging from 1.5 to 18 euros per ticket for flights originating in France,
French transport minister Elisabeth Borne announced this week.
The tax, which she tweeted was "a response to
the ecological urgency and feeling of injustice expressed by the French,"
varies based on the type of ticket, according to the BBC. Domestic economy
flights and those within the European Union, for example, are at the bottom of the range, while business class tickets outside the EU have the highest
tax. It will not apply to flights landing in or connecting through France.
Air France in a statement said it "strongly
disapproves" of the proposal and estimated it would add costs of more than
60 million euros per year for Air France-KLM.
"The new tax would significantly penalize Air France's
competitiveness, at a time where the company needs to strengthen its investment
capacity to more rapidly reduce its environmental footprint, notably as part of
its fleet renewal policy. The
government's decision is all the more incomprehensible as this new air
transport tax would reportedly finance competitive modes of transport, including
road transportation, and not the energy transition in the air transport
sector."
ICF Aviation Group VP Samuel Engel said Air France-KLM has
"fair grounds to complain," considering France already subsidizes
rail travel, but said low-cost carriers would probably take the larger hit,
considering the tax would represent a much higher proportion of their average
ticket price. Other countries, including Germany and Sweden, already have
introduced similar "green taxes," and Engel said more are likely on
the way.
"This week's move comes in the context of a rising
perception across Europe that air travel is an ecological taboo, even as it is
increasingly a top priority for the industry," he said. "The public
conversation seems to invite politicians to seize a taxing opportunity, one in
which the tax can be partially 'exported' to foreigners and sluffed off on
business or wealthier citizens."
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