Ryanair threatens to reduce its activities in France in the face of the rise in air taxes

The boss of Ryanair, the first European low -cost airline, Michael O’Leary, threatened on Saturday to reduce his capacities in France on Saturday, if the government decided to increase the air tax, aroused an annoyed response from the Minister of Transport.

“You have this crazy situation where your government increases the solidarity tax on plane tickets (TSBA), which increased from 2.63 euros to 7.40 euros by ticket” in March 2025, begins Michael O’Leary in an interview on a daily basis “Le Parisien”, describing the increase in “unjustified” for “a sector that does not report much money”.

He claims to have proposed a plan to France to double annual traffic by 2030, “but only if the government suppresses taxes”. “Otherwise, we have less expensive alternatives elsewhere (…) and if France’s response is to increase taxes again, then we will still reduce our capacity here,” threatens the boss of the Irish company.

“I do not tolerate these ways of doing things,” replied the Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarot, asked by “Le Parisien”. “Dialogue, yes, but no threat,” he adds, accusing Ryanair of not assuming having “doubled his profits in a year”. The Minister, who had said personally “reserved” to the idea of registering the increase in the duration of the duration in March, denounces the “violent” communication of Ryanair “to try to exonate from (his) social and tax obligations”.

In response to the increase in the solidarity tax on plane tickets, the Irish company announced at the end of July a reduction of 13% of its capacity in France, or 750,000 less seats, deserting three regional airports (Strasbourg, Bergerac and Brive) for the winter. Michael O’Leary had however assured at the end of March that he would not delete regional service. “Rather than giving lessons on how the government is preparing its next budget, it (Michael O’Leary) would better take care of the service that Ryanair renders its customers,” added Philippe Tabarot, citing social conflicts and court decisions.

The boss of Ryanair has tackled French air traffic control, “the least effective in Europe”, and “recreational” strikes before the controllers’ weekends to obtain, according to him, three days of additional leave, which lead to “cancellations on overflights” from French territory since, according to him, Paris “overprotects domestic flights”. A charge qualified by the Minister of “excess caricature on certain behaviors that may exist, for a minority only”.