French air transport is “firmly opposed” to a new tax favoring the least polluting means of transport, and wishes at the very least that it be directed towards the decarbonization of the sector, its leader said on Monday.
Needless to say that we are firmly opposed to this tax, which has not been the subject of any consultation, declared Pascal de Izaguirre, president of the National Federation of Aviation and its trades (Fnam) on BFM Business .
Last Tuesday, the Minister Delegate for Transport Clment Beaune repeated that taxing the means of transport that emit the most CO2 would encourage a transfer, in particular to the train, and to invest more in the ecological transition.
During the Medef summer university, the minister had confirmed that the next finance bill would include taxes on motorway companies and plane tickets.
This tax increase comes on top of the plan to increase the solidarity tax on plane tickets, and bodes well for a further increase in ticket prices, added Mr. de Izaguirre, also CEO of Corsair.
Air transport already bears a lot of taxes and fees, contrary to what is said, he said.
On the price of a ticket for French or European domestic routes, there are already almost half of taxes and fees, affirmed the president of Fnam, while ensuring that the margins of the sector remained extremely low despite the recovery. activity and prices that have risen sharply after the health crisis.
If there are new taxes (…) on air transport, they must be directed towards the decarbonization of air transport, and not to finance (…) the SNCF, pleaded Mr. de Izaguirre, recalling that his sector had committed to zero net CO2 emissions by 2050, which will require massive investment in equipment and fuels of non-fossil origin.
Last week, Mr. Beaune said that the tax increase would also finance the 300 million euros per year that the State puts into the aeronautical sector to finance sustainable fuels (and) the green plane of tomorrow.