Faced with the increase in the Solidarity Tax on plane tickets (TSBA) integrated into the 2025 finance bill and the threat from the company Ryanair to reduce its presence at 10 French airports which could include the Perpignan site- La Llabanère, the economic and tourist actors of the Pyrénées-Orientales wrote an open letter this Monday, November 25, 2024 to call on the deputies and senators of the department to oppose these measures.
Representatives of the economic and tourist world of the Pyrénées-Orientales have decided to form a united front in the face of the 2025 finance bill and in particular the increase in the Solidarity Tax on plane tickets (TSBA) which would dangerously add lead to the airport wing, “particularly regional”.
In an open letter distributed this Monday and co-signed by departmental stakeholders, Laurent Gauze, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Guy Durand, president of MEDEF; Brice Sannac, president of the UMIH; Frédéric Malquier, president of the FNAIM; and Paul Bessoles, vice-president of the Occitanie Outdoor Hotel Federation, in charge of the Pyrénées-Orientales, wished “express their full support to airlines and airport managers.” Facing “this sudden and disproportionate increase which will weigh heavily on passengers, by increasing the cost of travel, on companies in the airline sector, already weakened, and on the economic and tourist attractiveness of our territories”.
“It constitutes a direct threat to the connectivity of the Pyrénées-Orientales, essential to our economic dynamism and local employment. In particular, regional lines, vital for mobility and the opening up of our territory, risk disappearing under the weight of this increased taxation”, they add. Caller “solemnly the deputies and senators of the Pyrénées-Orientales to oppose these measures deemed unfair and penalizing and to defend a balanced and sustainable fiscal model for our regional infrastructure.” At the same time, they warn about the Tax on Security Services (T2S) which “weakens the investment capacities of airport operators and compromises their modernization, which is nevertheless essential to their competitiveness.”
The low-cost airline alone represents nearly 50% of traffic in Perpignan
A rise to the niche which is also intrinsically linked to the threat of the company Ryanair to reduce its presence in ten of the twenty-two French airports that it currently serves. The low-cost airline giant has already used this strategy in other European countries to pressure governments on aviation tax policy.
And, if Ryanair does not name the sites concerned, several regional airports could be affected such as Limoges, Carcassonne, Perpignan, or Nîmes. With one thing in common for these platforms, the Irish company is the main, if not the only, air operator. And his departure could have dramatic consequences on their activity. Ryanair represents in fact almost 50% of the traffic in Perpignan, popular among others with English supporters, rugby league teams and all vacationers during the summer season. A risk all the greater given the proximity to Girona and Barcelona. But also the temptation for airlines to land instead in airports located in countries with more advantageous tax conditions such as Italy, Spain or Greece and for European and international passengers to gradually turn towards other destinations. Leaving tourism in the Pyrénées-Orientales grounded.
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