Ryanair currently serves 22 airports in France, including two close to the Paris region: Beauvais (Oise) and Vatry (Marne). The regional airports affected by the end of operations would therefore be among the 20 others. Ryanair did not cite any on Wednesday. The company also did not wish to say to what extent its total supply in France would be reduced if it carried out its threat. It hopes to transport 5.7 million people there this year, 19% more than in 2023.
A triple tax
Looking for funds to reduce a larger-than-expected budget deficit, the government included in its 2025 finance bill (PLF) a tripling of the solidarity tax on plane tickets (TSBA) and an increase of the taxation of private jet passengers, for a total of one billion euros. “The impact of increasing taxes on passengers will be most detrimental for regional France, which depends on competitive access costs,” argued Jason McGuinness, estimating that this “will make many routes to and from the regions non-viable French companies.
At the beginning of November, Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary revealed that his company was reducing capacity in France and Germany, two countries having increased taxation on the airline sector or planning to do so. Ryanair, the leading European airline in terms of passengers carried, has faced headwinds in recent months, between delivery delays of its Boeing 737MAX aircraft which are constraining its capacity and the drop in demand which is forcing it to reduce its fares and affecting its profitability.
Low-cost airlines: low-cost flights… but not for public finances
Subsidies bordering on legality, aggressive social optimization practices… The model in which companies offer tickets at knockdown prices is in reality full of public money. In business secrecy, most airports have been forced to pay their dues to Ryanair, Easyjet or Volotea…
“Huge competition”
But during an interview, Jason McGuinness assured that it was the increase in the TSBA which represented “a fundamental problem for the connectivity of the French regions”. There is, he argued, “enormous competition between airports, regions and countries at the moment in Europe” to attract airlines: “we have no shame in saying that we will direct our capabilities to places that will work with us to reduce these costs.”
France
