Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, has announced its intention to withdraw a host of services from 10 regional airports across France should the French government carry out its plan to increase passenger taxes from those airports. The tax increases, said by the carrier to amount to 260%, are due to be introduced on January 1, 2025
In a statement issued on November 20, 2024, the low-cost leviathan called on the French government “to abandon its short-sighted plan to increase passenger taxes by 260% from 1 January 2025. This anti-growth passenger tax increase represents a targeted attack on ordinary French citizens and regional France, while wealthy long-haul Parisian passengers are paradoxically exempt.”
According to the airline, France’s air traffic recovery is already lagging well behind other leading European tourism economies such as Spain due to taxes on aviation. Furthermore, Ryanair says that the French government’s plan to increase passenger taxes by 260% “stands in stark contrast to the approach taken by rival European countries such as Sweden, Hungary, and Italy, which are abolishing air travel taxes in order to compete with countries such as Spain and Poland, which have no air travel taxes, in terms of connectivity and economic growth.”
According to the Dublin-based airline, higher air travel taxes mean higher access costs for the passenger, which will make France (and particularly airports in the regions) less competitive in terms of being a destination for tourism and airline investment.
“Less tourism means fewer flights, higher fares, and job losses, which will be particularly damaging for French regional airports,” adds the airline.
In light of the proposed tax increase, Ryanair has already begun reviewing its schedules in France and says it is expecting to cut capacity to and from French regional airports by 50% from January 2025 should the plan go ahead.
“The French government’s proposal to increase its already excessive passenger tax is short-sighted, ill-conceived, and designed to further derail the recovery of the French aviation industry,” said Jason McGuinness, Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer. “France and Germany are among the most depressed aviation markets in Europe and, thanks to recent increases in aviation taxes, they will be further outpaced by competing economies such as Spain and Poland, where there are no taxes, as well as Italy, Sweden, and Hungary, which have abolished aviation taxes.”
“The impact of the passenger tax increase will be most damaging to regional France, which relies on competitive access costs, while, perversely, wealthy long-haul Parisian passengers continue to be exempt. Unfortunately, given that this unjustified increase in passenger tax will render many routes to/from regional France unviable. We call on the French government to immediately abandon its plans to triple passenger taxes to protect investment, connectivity, tourism, and jobs across regional France,” he added.
Elsewhere in Europe
Ryanair has a long history of withdrawing (or threatening to withdraw services from airports) where there are firm proposals to increase taxes. In October 2024, Ryanair said it would cancel all its flights to three German airports during the summer of 2025, blaming high taxes and airport fees imposed by the German government. On October 10, 2024, the airline announced a 12% reduction in German flights for summer 2025, resulting in the cancellation of 1.8 million seats and 22 routes.
Under the plan, Ryanair will shut down its bases at Dortmund Airport (DTM), Dresden Airport (DRS), and Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ). The airline will also cut its services at Hamburg Airport (HAM) by 60%, resulting in 22 routes being removed.
However, in September 2024, in response to the Swedish government’s decision to scrap aviation tax in the country from July 1, 2025, Ryanair announced it would increase flights from the Scandinavian country during the northern summer of 2025. Consequently, the carrier said it intends to increase the number of aircraft based in Sweden by two units (33%) in 2025 and would introduce 10 new routes from Swedish airports. The move would create 60 new jobs for the country’s economy, the carrier added.