Ryanair threatens to drop 10 French airports over tax hike

Ryanair is a major provider of services at French regional airports – Copyright AFP/File Patrick T. Fallon

Low-cost airline Ryanair threatened Wednesday to stop serving 10 French regional airports if the government goes forward with a proposed tax hike. 

The French government is scrambling to plug a larger-than-expected budget deficit, and a tripling of a tax on airline tickets, as well as private jets, is one of the measures currently under consideration.

“Ryanair is now reviewing its French schedules and expects to cut capacity to/from regional French airports by up to 50 percent from January 2025 if the French government proceeds with its short-sighted plan to triple passenger taxes,” Ryanair’s chief commercial officer Jason McGuinness said in a statement.

Ryanair currently operates flights at 22 smaller French regional airports. The two closest to Paris are not among those where Ryanair might cut services, but the airline did not indicate which are threatened. 

The Irish budget airline hopes to transport 5.7 million people along its French routes this year, an increase of 19 percent from 2023. 

Ryanair said the tax increase would fall most heavily on passengers using regional airports, which are primarily served by low-cost airlines and the tax hike would have a larger impact.

“The impact of increased passenger taxes will be most damaging for regional France which depends on competitive access costs,” McGuinness said.

He added that there was fierce competition between regional airports and Ryanair would shift operations to airports that would help it reduce costs.