France adopts a tax that will drive up the price of tickets to Morocco

In search of revenue, the Barnier government has planned to increase the tax on airline tickets. The goal is to collect one billion euros. The measure, which should come into effect on January 1, 2025, was adopted on Friday by the National Assembly by 99 votes to 78. However, deputies have introduced sub-amendments to the text, limiting the duration of the measure to one year and excluding the overseas territories and Corsica.

"By limiting this increase in taxation to one year and excluding the Overseas Territories and Corsica, the deputies recognized the risks that such a measure could pose to the competitiveness of French companies, which are already in a fragile economic situation," said Benjamin Smith, CEO of the Air France-KLM group, following the deputies’ vote.

The National Federation of Aviation and its Professions (FNAM) also welcomes the improvement made to this project: "The signal sent by the vote of these sub-amendments constitutes a positive step forward, reflecting a first awareness of the danger presented by the planned increase in the tax for the competitiveness of airlines and the attractiveness of the country," it reacted, protesting against this increase in the Chirac tax decided "without consultation and without the slightest impact study".

"The air transport industry cannot reasonably bear on its own and on a permanent basis more than half of the additional ’green’ taxation on businesses in the 2025 Finance Bill, especially if these sums are in no way reinvested in the decarbonization of the sector," it denounced. "This additional tax will ultimately lead to tens of thousands of job losses in France," the National Union of Airline Pilots (SNPL) also warned, which plans to go on strike on November 14.