Panel Proposes €800 Long-Haul Eco Tax On Business Class Flights Ex-France

A French panel exploring various options to battle climate change has come up with new eco-taxes for different transportation options.

The goal is to reduce flying activities by significantly raising taxes to 120 euros (economy), 800 euros (business), and 2,400 euros (private plane) on long-haul flights.

Here’s an excerpt from the Les Echos:

However, the most controversial measure, unveiled earlier this week by “La Tribune”, is the proposal for a “reinforced eco-contribution”.

This would involve increasing the “eco-contribution” from 1.50 euros added in 2020 to the “solidarity tax”, to 30 euros for a flight of less than 2,000 km in eco class (180 euros in business class) and 60 euros for a flight of more than 2,000 km (400 euros in business class). Or 60 euros on a return ticket Paris-Nice, for which the median price is 90.32 euros on Air France, with already 28% of various taxes, excluding airport charges. And up to 800 euros on a long-haul business class round trip. The tax would even amount to 2,400 euros for a long-haul business plane trip.

Conclusion

It isn’t easy to see how this could be implemented unless done at the European Union level, and it would decimate the long-haul air travel in premium cabins for all other than business passengers.

The better way would be to institute a working carbon trading scheme allowing polluting businesses, such as airlines, to buy credits or invest in projects that would suck carbon from the air.

Although there is wide acceptance for green taxes in Europe and France, especially, it is very difficult to see how this could work. It would essentially make travel to/from France unaffordable to many and would hit Air France hard.