The tax on large airports planned in the 2024 draft budget to finance the ecological transition will induce “a new distortion of competition” which will “hurt” French airlines, Air France denounced on Thursday.
This project introduces distortions of competition between French companies and foreign companies like Ryanair, which serve France from airports like Beauvais and would not suffer the effects of this taxation, the Air France group worried in a press release.
Its general director, Anne Rigail, had already launched on RTL a bill concerning only large airports, on which Air France but also all French companies mainly operate, and not an airport like Beauvais, on which the low cost foreigner operates.
When we look at traffic levels over the past 15 years, the weight of French companies has been declining from year to year. For us, this leads to a new distortion of competition which will harm us, insisted the boss of Air France.
In its press release, the group warns of the urgency of implementing a fair competitive environment for the French aviation sector and of preserving its competitiveness.
It seems logical to us that French companies do not pay most of French taxes, said Anne Rigail.
The government, which had for a time raised the possibility of a specific tax on plane tickets, finally decided on a tax on long-distance transport infrastructure, targeting motorway concessions and large airports and expected to bring in 600 million euros per year from 2024.
The tax is limited to companies whose operating income exceeds 120 million euros and the average profitability of recent years 10%, according to the text of the bill, which de facto spares the smallest airports.
The Aéroports de Paris (ADP) group has already announced that it plans to gradually pass on the majority of this tax to airlines.
This is not at all good news for Air France, emphasized its general director.
The airline pays 3 billion (euros) per year in taxes, fees and charges, highlighted Anne Rigail. When we hear that air transport is not taxed, this is not a reality.