2024 was not a good year for French airports, which fear a decline

French airports have not returned to their pre-Covid passenger numbers by 2024, and there are fears that increased taxation on the aviation sector will exacerbate the trend and cause a "drop-out" compared to other European countries.

Some 205,7 million air passengers passed through airports last year in mainland France and overseas, a 3,6% increase year-on-year. However, this volume remains "down 4% compared to 2019," the French Airports Union (UAF) emphasized at a press conference on Wednesday.

"It's not a good year, and it's a year of contrasts," said UAF President Thomas Juin. Some airports are doing well, particularly those that handle low-cost flights.

Beauvais, home to Ryanair, has led the way in growth since 2019, with a 64,6% increase in passengers last year. Marseille-Provence (+10%) and Paris-Orly (+4%) also saw growth.

On the other hand, major regional airports such as Lyon-Saint Exupéry (-10,9% in five years), Bordeaux (-14,4%), Lille-Lesquin (-18%), and Toulouse-Blagnac (-18,5%) are clearly in the red. "A number of airports have not recovered from the health crisis," Mr. Juin summarized.

As an explanation, metropolitan domestic traffic has contracted by 24,8% since 2019 and shows no signs of recovery: it has fallen by a further 5% between 2023 and 2024.

Aviation professionals attribute this phenomenon to the development of videoconferencing and incentives to use rail.

Among the big post-Covid winners are low-cost airlines, which last year captured 44,1% of traffic in mainland France, compared to 35,1% in 2019.

But the UAF warned on Wednesday of the risk of seeing these companies, which represent more than 99% of the activity of Beauvais, Carcassonne, Béziers and Nîmes, turn away from France due to the increase in air tax.

Among other recent measures, the 2025 budget provides for an increase in the solidarity tax on airline tickets, which will increase to 7,4 euros, compared to 2,63 euros previously for domestic flights or flights to Europe.

Combined with a shortage of aircraft, this tax will "lead foreign companies to choose countries that adopt more attractive taxation," warned Mr. Juin.

For him, we are witnessing "the beginning of a decline in France compared to competing countries in terms of tourism" such as Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Unlike France, which has "chosen to reduce air transport," they are banking "on air transport to develop their tourism sector, to develop their economy" and are showing double-digit growth in the number of air passengers compared to 2019, argued the head of the UAF.

While Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot recently expressed reservations about the idea of making the tax increase in the sector permanent, Mr Juin welcomed "a note of hope" on Wednesday.

"But we have suffered so many charges in recent years that we are waiting for action," he concluded.