France-Morocco Flights Set to Soar in Price as Aviation Tax Hike Sparks Industry Backlash

After the SNPC, IATA, SCARA, Corsair, Air Caraïbes & French bee and Air France-KLM, it is the turn of the Union of French Airports (UAF) and the FNAM to denounce the increase in the TSBA. During a press conference on Monday, the presidents of the UAF and the FNAM (National Federation of Aviation and its Professions) expressed their opposition to the tax measures envisaged for air transport and the airport sector in the 2025 finance bill. The planned tax measures (the increase in the TSBA or Solidarity Tax on Air Tickets) decided by the government of Michel Barnier as part of the 2025 budget, have been "decided without prior consultation and without any impact study," they denounce. This is the result of the "sole budgetary emergencies of the State," which consist of "1 billion euros on air transport," estimate the presidents of the two organizations.

"At the rate of new taxes, there will soon be no more taxes to collect on air transport, because there will be no more flights. What’s the point of the Olympics if it’s to damage the French tourism industry in the process? Taxing long-haul international flights departing from France is to encourage passengers to favor alternative routes outside of France and thus lengthen travel times and promote carbon leakage. It is also to divert tourist flows from France. Taxing short and medium-haul flights is to reduce the air connectivity of the French regions and their economy, it is to impoverish the tourism industry. Taxing business aviation in France at these amounts is to kill it and jeopardize the location of a large number of SMEs, ETIs and therefore jobs in the territories," said Thomas Juin, president of the UAF. He will add: "Finally, directly taxing airports with the tax on long-distance transport infrastructure or the increase in corporate tax, is to reduce their investment capacities in the energy transition, decarbonization and quality of service."

The increase in the TSBA should lead to a rise in airline ticket prices for "business" or long-haul passengers and generate nearly one billion euros in revenue. Currently, the TSBA brings in 460 million euros to the French state.