Budget airline to charge French ticket tax increase on already purchased tickets
Passengers will need to pay difference in cost online or at a check-in desk or could be denied boarding
Tickets purchased since February 19 for a Transavia flight include the difference in tax
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A low-cost French airline is planning to charge passengers who have already bought tickets an additional fee to cover an incoming rise in flight taxes.
A rise to the taxe de solidarité sur les billets d’avion (TSBA) is included in the 2025 budget of prime minister François Bayrou, and will see the tax increase on all flights departing from France after March 1.
The tax will nearly triple for economy-class seats on European flights (including the UK) that depart from France, rising from €2.63 to €7.40. It will increase to €15 for destinations outside of Europe*.
Transavia, the budget wing of the Air France-KLM group, will require passengers who have already purchased a ticket for a flight scheduled from March 3 to pay the tax increase amount before they board.
Passengers who do not pay may be denied boarding, the group said in a statement.
“Customers holding tickets purchased before October 28, 2024 and after December 7, 2024, for travel on or after March 3, 2025, will shortly receive an email to regularise payment [of the tax],” the company said.
“In the event of non-payment, customers will not be able to check in online and obtain their boarding pass. It will then be necessary to go to the check-in desk to pay the additional fee before being issued a boarding pass,” the statement adds.
“For all bookings made since February 19, 2025, the new tax amount is directly included in the price indicated on the website.”
The carrier’s parent company Air France is not retroactively applying the tax increase to tickets already sold, however.
Controversial tax rise
The tax increase has led to widespread controversy in the aviation sector.
Originally announced in the scrapped budget of ex-prime minister Michel Barnier, the announcement led to a pilot strike and threats by low-cost carrier Ryanair to pull out of several airports in France unless the increase was cancelled.
The taxes were set to be higher – increasing to over €9 for a European flight – but were reduced by the Senate during a voting session on the original budget.
The Senate also asked for certain routes to be exempt, including those to small, struggling regional airports in France, but the government at the time said this was not feasible as it went against EU regulations.
This version of the tax was scrapped alongside the budget of Mr Barnier when he was ousted in December 2024.
However, it was replaced by the current iteration set to come into force from March. It is unclear whether further action against the taxes – in the form of strikes or route changes – is set to take place.
Read more: French regional airports’ anxious wait for Ryanair decision
Many airlines are set to simply add the cost of the tax per-seat to ticket purchases, leading passengers to directly pay for the increase.
Since an increase to the tax in 2020, part of the funds go towards maintaining French national infrastructure including the road and rail network and improving public transport in France.
*Note that the €7.40 rate applies to domestic flights departing France, as well as those to EU/EEA member states. It also applies flights to other countries situated less than 1,000 km from France, including the UK and Switzerland.
