Airport trade body, ACI Europe, has urged the French Government to reconsider plans to add an additional tax on the revenues earned by some of France’s largest airports, including those in Paris, Nice, Marseille (pictured), Lyon and Toulouse.
Proposed as part of the 2024 Finance Law, the 4.6% tax which would be imposed on airports with revenues exceeding €120 million, will reduce the capacity of the affected airports to finance their decarbonisation plans and will likely increase travel costs and impact connectivity with negative repercussions for the local economy.
“This is yet another initiative from the French Government targeting aviation and labelled as ecological, but which would in fact hit both decarbonisation efforts and the economy,” stressed Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe’s Director General.
“Squeezing airports that are leading decarbonisation efforts for tax revenue is ill-advised and amounts to policy greenwashing. Achieving net zero for European aviation will require more than €820 billion in investments across the entire ecosystem comprising aircraft manufacturers, airline,s airports and air navigation service providers. Further taxing the sector will only make such investments more difficult and threatens our shared goals.”
Airport operator Groupe ADP, which manages both Paris Charles de Gualle and Orly, has also underlined the detrimental impact the tax will have, saying it intends to transfer approximately 75% of the tax to airlines via an increase in tarrifs over a two to three-year period, with the first increase applied from 1 April, 2024.
Meanwhile Air France CEO, Anne Rigail, said the tax will also hurt French airlines and is “not at all good news”.
The proposed tax follows the French government’s ban on some domestic flights, as the country seeks to achieve
