Ryanair is threatening to cancel flights to a much-loved region of France after the firm’s boss called proposed taxes on air fares “ridiculous and idiotic”. In response to the French airfare taxes, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said his company will halt flights to the Dordogne region, which is a popular destination for UK holidaymakers.
The airline boss took aim at French authorities for the so-called ‘solidarity’ tax on on airfares, which means companies will be charged €7.40 (£6.40) per ticket, up from €2.63 (£2.28). He said the government in Paris was “shooting itself in both feet with these ridiculous and idiotic taxes on air travel”. Mr O’Leary added: “I have nothing against taxing visitors by, for example, imposing a tax on hotel nights. But you have to get tourists into the country first.” The news of cancelled destinations will not be a welcome one for UK holidaymakers, who are already facing strikes hitting air travel in Spain later this month.
Speaking to French newspaper Le Parisien, Mr O’Leary continued: “It’s completely unjustified. We operate in a rotten industry that doesn’t make much money.”
He added that his airline had “cheaper alternatives” for countries they could fly to “where other countries are realising the stupidity of the French tax increases and trying to exploit it”.
Ryanair has said it will stop flights to Bergerac and Brive airports, which both serve the Dordogne, as well as journeys to Strasbourg, in eastern France.
The changes will mean a drop of 13% in Ryanair journeys to the UK’s closest European neighbour, other than the Republic of Ireland.
The Times reports French transport minister Phillippe Tabarot hit back at Mr O’Leary’s words and blasted the halting of flights as “a strategy to exonerate it (Ryanair) from its social and fiscal obligations”.
The minister claimed the three airports to be taken off Ryanair’s roster were the smallest the airline operated from.
British tourist numbers to France have generally shown a decline in recent years, with more people preferring sunshine breaks in Spain, Greece and Turkey over the summer.
But despite the decline in tourism, the number of UK residents choosing to relocate to live in France is still a sizable, with up to 10,000 thought to reside in the Dordogne region alone.
