Volotea Swoops In as Ryanair Exits: French Airports See Shake-up Amid Tax Hike Drama

In a tit-for-tat response, the Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarot, highlighted the resumption of Ryanair’s flights from Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin) to Agadir (Morocco) and Porto (Portugal) by Volotea, with the creation of 70 jobs. "This clearly shows that the situation is not so terrible! I have no problem with a company making profits, and that’s the case for Ryanair, which has doubled its profits in a year (1.6 billion euros), but it has to be assumed," he said in an interview with Le Parisien, thus replying to Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, who attacked the government and strongly denounced the increase in the solidarity tax on airline tickets (TSBA) - also called the Chirac tax - decided during the 2025 budget.

Applicable since March 1st, the tax on airline tickets or TSBA has increased from 2.63 euros to 7.4 euros for domestic and European flights. This increase could bring in 800 to 850 million euros to the French state. However, this measure has prompted Ryanair to decide to reduce its capacity in the regions in France this year. On July 30th last, the Irish low-cost airline announced its withdrawal from three French airports, namely Bergerac (Dordogne), Brive (Corrèze) and Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), due to "the excessive increase in the air tax, which has been increased by 180% in March 2025." According to the company, this tax is "astronomical" and "makes France less competitive compared to other EU countries like Ireland, Spain or Poland."