French air transport deplores the "drop in traffic"

"The year 2025 shows a clear slowdown in traffic growth in France," Pascal de Izaguirre, president of Fnam, lamented to the press, observing "a form of French disengagement in a European environment that is nevertheless favorable."

Domestic air traffic, "particularly affected," stands at "73% of its 2019 level," says Pascal de Izaguirre, adding that "traffic linking Paris to the provinces has returned to its 1984 level."

"We had expressed our fears and anticipations following the tax increases regarding the negative impact they would have on French air traffic. Unfortunately, this is what we are seeing," the manager lamented.

The increase in the tax on airline tickets, adopted at the same time as the state budget last February, increased the tax from 2,63 euros to 7,30 euros for an economy-class ticket from France to Europe.

"Airlines that have redeployment opportunities have redeployed capacity to markets deemed more attractive," assures the president of Fnam, citing the example of Ryanair.

In response to the increase in the solidarity tax on airline tickets, the Irish company announced at the end of July a 13% reduction in its capacity in France, i.e. 750.000 fewer seats, abandoning three regional airports (Strasbourg, Bergerac and Brive) for the winter.

However, the company's boss, Michael O'Leary, had assured at the end of March that he would not be cutting regional services.

In early August, it threatened to "further" reduce its capacity in France if the government decided to increase the air tax again.