PARIS – Known for introducing fashion trends to the world, France is exploring options to increase the taxes on airline tickets.
Though the decision to increase the taxes might not be welcomed by travel experts, it has another bright side.
In essence, France wants to earn from flyers to invest in its rail system. The country is aiming to promote rail transportation to attract more people to use trains to reach different destinations both domestic and international while ditching flights.
Minister of Transport of France, Clément Beaune said that the higher taxes on flight tickets are expected to be officially implemented in 2024 as part of the new budget.
The minister said that the country has already seen growth in train utility and stressed that this is the perfect time to make it more affordable; the minister claimed that the country expects to sell a record-breaking number of train tickets this summer.
“We will break a new record for tickets sold for train travel this summer. There is a desire to take the train, which we must support by lowering prices with the regions,” Minister Beaune said in an interview for RMC.
Besides, the minister also revealed that under the fresh initiatives, the authorities are also considering the possibility of introducing a tax on aircraft fuel as well which will be sustainably rational.
As far as the timeline for reducing fares of train tickets is concerned, the minister said this will happen by next summer.
The decision to introduce a tax on airline tickets comes months after France banned domestic short-haul flights on routes where train alternatives exist in an effort to reduce carbon emissions.
The law, widely hailed by environmentalists, came into force recently but two years after lawmakers had voted to end routes where the same trip could be made by train in under two-and-a-half hours.
Clement Beaune, France’s transport minister, had heralded the fresh law at that time and said this is an essential step and a strong symbol in the policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“As we fight relentlessly to decarbonize our lifestyles, how can we justify the use of the plane between the big cities which benefit from regular, fast and efficient connections by train,” he said in a statement though critics have described the latest measures as symbolic bans.
Under the law, only three routes have been discontinued i.e those linking Paris-Orly airport to the cities of Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon while connecting flights will be unaffected.
While some of the climate change activists branded it as a welcome step, Laurent Donceel, interim head of industry group Airlines for Europe (A4E), told a news agency that banning these trips will only have ‘minimal effects’ on CO2 output, calling on authorities to instead support real and significant solutions to the issue.
France’s Citizens’ Convention on Climate, which was created by President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 and included 150 members of the public, had proposed scrapping plane journeys where train journeys of under four hours existed but the cap was fixed at two and a half hours.
Meanwhile, Guillaume Schmid, former vice president of Air France’s pilots’ union also said no one will be fooled by this measure citing that passengers are naturally turning away from taking flights on these routes.
