The ecotax envisaged by the government following the work of the citizens’ convention is definitely causing a lot of ink to flow.
We could have told you that 150 people drawn at random for such serious subjects is a bit limited.
23 unemployed per ton of CO2.
We could have told you that, knowing that air transport represents 1.4% of French CO2 emissions, which themselves represent 0.9% of global emissions, killing 150,000 jobs for a 0.79% drop in emissions (3.5 million tons) is expensive per ton. Each new unemployed person will be happy to know that he is worth 0.04 tons of C02. On a resume it sure looks good. In the meantime, as it will take 23.3 unemployed people to save a ton, we will have filled the job center before having saved the planet.
We could have told you that we have a government that really likes to throw public money around. Giving, even though the term “giving” is very inappropriate in this case, 7 billion to Air France and Air France-KLM to take back 1.2 billion in the form of tax while the business is down is a mix between Sisyphus and the Danaides barrel.
But we have decided to be positive and to explain to you why the ecotax as it is envisaged is an opportunity for Europe.
Europe is bigger than France!
Indeed, let’s not be egotistical: there is not only France in Europe and by definition there are more airlines to save outside our borders than inside.
Indeed, for the moment, whether we are talking about Lufthansa, Swiss, British Airways, Iberia, TAP or even KLM, to name only the closest ones, the battle is not over for any of them at the time of writing.
So if we can give a hand to our neighbors while doing a good deed for the environment, why not do it!
Flights will not disappear, they will go elsewhere
Let’s be honest, the assumptions made are very optimistic: it is wiser to expect a much smaller drop in emissions than the not much we are promised here.
Let’s look at the amounts envisaged:
30 euros for a flight of less than 2,000 km in economy class, 180 euros in business class.
60 euros for a flight of more than 2,000 km, 400 euros in business class.
Morality, for the passenger from France it will be cheaper to make a stopover in Frankfurt, Zurich or London than to fly directly from Paris.
First penalized : Air France and the French airlines which by definition operate direct from France.
Then the foreign airlines but France concerns only a part of their flights so they will be largely less affected. And those operating medium-haul flights from France to feed their hubs will be less affected than those coming to France by direct long-haul flights.
Indeed, if I take a Paris-Frankfurt-Singapore flight, the ecotax will only affect the Paris-Frankfurt flight whereas it will apply to the whole flight if I take a Paris-Singapore direct flight.
Already the airlines like Lufthansa have aggressive “market fare” strategies from France, now it’s going to be a butchery.
And for the traveler in business class at 400 euros per tax the question will not even arise! Hello Lufthansa, Swiss, Emirates and co.
But even for medium-haul flights, where everything is done to avoid stopovers, the price dimension may also change the situation. Not only will this bring “gift” customers to foreign airlines but it will also increase emissions because everyone knows that a Paris-Madrid flight is shorter direct than via Munich!
Europe can say thank you to France
With the ecotax as envisaged, foreign airlines will be able to easily attract French passengers, especially for long-haul flights and even more so for business passengers.
Business class and long-haul: the two most profitable segments for European airlines, the niche in which they all fight to attract customers!
Well, this is a gift, we’re going to deliver them on a plate!
“Let’s leave the least profitable passengers to Air France and offer the others to foreign airlines”. Even if we know that in France the plane is mainly used by the lower income groups and the inactive (contrary to the TGV adored by the upper income groups and shunned by the more modest) we have seen more logical reasoning. We have not been able to access the asset declarations of some of our political leaders, but we end up wondering whether they have large stocks of Lufthansa Group or IAG shares, which would be the most rational explanation.
And what about KLM? Even if at the level of the Air France-KLM group the bill will be painful, the “little” sister of Air France could well come out on top! With such a measure, common sense would dictate that Air France-KLM transfer as much of its long-haul traffic as possible to Amsterdam. We thought we had hit the bottom but now we are digging hoping to find oil.
The only thing missing is the transfer of the group’s headquarters to Amsterdam to save an additional 1 billion in taxes per year, and we will have won everything.
No, really, we would never have dared to think that France would be so exemplary in European solidarity and would go so far as to kill its businesses to help those of our neighbors survive.
Photo : Air France planes inRoissy by S. Pech via Shutterstock
