Ben Smith, the Chief Executive Officer of Air France-KLM , has opposed the recently proposed taxes on airline tickets, warning that the newly proposed levy would make France have the highest airfare taxes in Europe. Opposing increasing taxes In an interview with France’s La Tribune , Smith, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air France-KLM, said that raising the solidarity tax on airline tickets (a taxe de solidarité sur les billets d’avion, TSBA) would be irresponsible. Smith said that a similar bill had already been attempted by the previous government, which collapsed in December 2024.
Now, as François Bayrou, the new Prime Minister of France, who also survived a no-confidence vote last week, is searching for ways for the state to cut its budget deficit by slashing public spending and increasing taxes, will aim to collect up to €1 billion ($1.031 billion) from the proposed taxes on French flyers, according to La Tribune . The Franco-Dutch group’s CEO added that if the new tax proposal is approved by the French Parliament, France will have the highest airfare taxes in Europe.
However, if the country’s legislators do approve the levy, Smith would like the revenues to go toward decarbonizing France’s aviation industry. KLM has previously said that due to its inability to use Russian airspace, its Asian network would remain the same compared to the previous winter. Passing the bill to its customers In November 2024, Air France had already warned that while th.
