lThe Government’s intention to increase the tax on airline tickets has caused an outcry from the sector in recent days. However, this increase in air taxes would be a good ecological and budgetary measure. We call on the government and parliamentarians to fulfill this intention.
Indeed, aviation has for decades enjoyed an extremely favorable tax regime, combining a kerosene tax and VAT exemption for all tickets outside the domestic market, as well as a carbon market exemption for flights outside the domestic market. European Union. This represents a considerable deficit for France, estimated by the NGO Transport and Environment at 6.1 billion euros in 2025. The increase in the tax on airline tickets to 1 billion euros would constitute a first positive step to offset these taxes. exemptions.
Increasing aviation taxes is also a necessary condition to put aviation on the path to decarbonization. Along with other solutions, such as stopping the expansion of airports and limiting the number of takeoffs, taxes are in fact an effective way to prevent the sector’s growth from becoming uncontrollable. By increasing ticket prices, the climate impact of a flight is better reflected and the artificial creation of demand is limited.
Far from signaling the “death” of aviation, this tax increase should help mitigate the frenetic growth of the sector. While international traffic from France has already surpassed pre-Covid levels, Airbus predicts that international traffic from Europe will continue to grow over the next twenty years (on average an additional 2.4% to 4.1% per year , depending on the destinations). Globally, this growth would lead to a doubling of traffic by 2043. This uncontrolled increase in air traffic would frustrate any decarbonization plans.
don’t hesitate
In addition to the essential moderation of demand, the decarbonization of aviation will also be based on the replacement of fossil kerosene with alternative fuels. However, these alternative fuels consume a lot of energy and are already limiting available resources. Allowing air traffic growth to get out of control would make the decarbonization challenge simply impossible. In a scenario in which the fossil kerosene consumed by planes departing from France is replaced by up to 40% with synthetic fuel between now and 2050, more than 150 TWh of carbon-free electricity would be needed, according to sector projections, or the equivalent of production. of twelve EPR.
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