France to implement ecotax on air tickets

The French government will implement an ecotax on flights departing from France starting in 2020. The tax will be anywhere between €1.50 (R24) and €18 (R283).

According to Afar, the tax is supposedly going to generate €180 million (R2,825,604,000) for the country. These funds will be reinvested into eco-friendly transportation infrastructure, including an eco-friendly railway system.

France’s transport minister Élisabeth Borne said certain flights will be exempt from the tax, however, including domestic flights to Corsica and France’s overseas territories.

Connecting flights that pass through France and flights arriving in the country will not be subject to the tax.

Domestic and European flights will be taxed €1.50 for economy tickets and €9 (R142) for business class tickets. For business flights outside of the EU, travellers will be taxed up to €18.