French pilots are set to strike on 14 November 2024 amid protests over the tripling of a tax intended to cut carbon emissions and buoy up state finances.
A strike notice issued by the French National Union of Airline Pilots (Syndicat National des Pilotes de Ligne, or SNPL) covers not only pilots for flag carrier Air France but also all pilots with French employment contracts. This means the ensuing disruption across the country’s skies and airports could be significant. Demonstrations are also planned.
What is the “Airline Ticket Solidarity Tax”?
The so-called “Airline Ticket Solidarity Tax” (Taxe de Solidarité sur les Billets d’Avion, or TSBA), first introduced in France in 2006, has been hiked as part of 2025’s proposed budget. On economy class seats to European destinations, the tax will rise from €2.63 per passenger to €9.50. Medium-haul destinations (journeys less than 5,500 km) meanwhile will go up from €7.51 to €15 and long-haul economy flyers will see an over 400% increase from €7.51 to an extra €40 on top of their ticket price.
What’s more, first class ticket holders and private jet users will see sharper increases and the French parliament approved plans to raise the cost of a Paris to New York business class ticket by €120.
Airlines pass on the cost to customers
Airlines are responsible for levying the fees on passengers, which are expected to raise an additional €1 billion annually for the government. They are now factoring in the extra liability of paying the increased taxes to the treasury, even though the measure has not yet been finalised and the taxes have in theory not been collected.
It’s a situation which has caused Air France-KLM to decide to pass the additional fees on to flyers in advance, saying on their website: “For Air France-KLM, having to pay an uncollected tax to the French government would represent a loss of several tens of millions of euros.”
Pressing the industry’s point, the increase to the Solidarity Tax was announced without proper consultation or impact assessments, says the SNPL, which fears the extra costs entailed could negatively affect France’s aviation sector. Like many other national sectors, it is still recovering from the strain of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jobs and the green transition at stake?
The additional burden of the tax, alongside the potential dampening effect of rising ticket price on consumer demand, risk prompting a slump that could result in “tens of thousands of job losses in France”, the SNPL has said, calling it a “social disaster” that “will go hand in hand with the weakening of French operators or those operating regularly in France compared to their European and international competitors.”
And the pilot body is not the sole voice of discontent among stakeholders. Industry groups Airlines for Europe (A4E) and Airports Council International (ACI), both expressed “dismay” when the new tax was announced.
Calling the increase “counterproductive”, A4E’s Managing Director, Ourania Georgoutsakou, said the French levy would “fragment the single aviation market and would undermine the competitiveness of French aviation. Any short-term revenue gains the government expects would be far outweighed by reduced connectivity, poorer consumer welfare and would set back aviation’s decarbonisation efforts. Diverting funds from the industry through increased taxes ultimately means less investment in crucial decarbonisation measures.”
