" If they wanted to kill French air transport, they couldn't do it any other way." . It's a bitter conclusion, and one that has no appeal for Thomas Juindirector of La Rochelle airport, but above all Chairman of the Union of French Airports (UAF)).
Increased taxation in 2025 combined with the accelerated withdrawal of the State from its sovereign responsibilities (ensure internal security and public order at airports) are putting French air transport at risk. This is particularly true for regional airports with fewer than one million passengers.
This trend is already reflected in the results for French airports in 2024. At the annual presentation of passenger results in France, UAP notes a slump in growth. " We didn't think that the post-Covid period would bring so many difficulties for French airports." admits Nicolas Paulissen, General Delegate of UAF.
Marked slowdown in growth in 2024
Last year, overall growth at French airports was 3,6% compared with 2023. i.e. 205.76 million passengers, on a par with 2018. These figures are also still 4% below those for 2019... The slowdown in growth is clear from one year to the next. In 2023, traffic grew by 14.2%, i.e. almost 25 million additional commercial passengers. Last year, the increase in traffic generated an inflow of 7 million extra passengers.
According to UAF, France is already falling behind the rest of the European Union since the traffic of the 27 exceeded the 2019 level by 1.8%. There were differences, of course. Germany, Austria, Sweden and Finland are still more than 15% below 2019. Spain, Greece, Italy, Poland and Portugal, on the other hand, all posted double-digit increases. " These are countries that favour air transport and understand its impact on local economies and tourism." says Thomas Juin.
The struggling servant
L'ban on certain domestic lines - a unique case in Europe according to the President of the UAF - and the increase in taxation are weighing particularly heavily on the development of air transport in the regions. Domestic traffic has fallen again, by 5% in 2024 compared with 2023. A quarter of the total number of passengers has thus disappeared since 2019. " Le departure of Air France domestic point-to-point routes should have a negative impact on the future development of domestic routes" UAF executives predict.
The figures speak for themselves. In 2024, only 26% of metropolitan airports exceeded their 2019 traffic levels. And 26% were between 90% and 100% of their pre-Covid traffic. Some major regional airports are struggling to return to their pre-pandemic levels. This is the case of Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon and ToulouseThe 2024 results are between 10% and 19% below the 2019 figures.
For small airports with less than one million passengers, only Calvi, Figari, Tarbes/Lourdes, La Rochelle, Perpignan, Béziers and Nîmes are posting better results than in 2019. On the other hand, Rennes, ToulonPau, Clermont-Ferrand and Metz/Nancy are sinking, with results at least 40% below pre-Covid passenger numbers.
Deadly taxation
UAF not optimistic about the outlook for 2025. Even before higher taxation (TSBA "solidarity" tax and T2S safety and security tariff), UAF estimated that this year's results would still not exceed those of 2019 at all French airports.
" The airlines' summer schedules have been fixed for a long time. The impact of these increases could nevertheless be felt strongly with the winter programmes and throughout 2026. Air traffic in France is in danger of stalling. Many low-cost airlines are already saying that France is hostile to air transport." says Thomas Juin.
What are the practical consequences? Traffic is likely to fall at many airports - particularly the so-called "local" airports (100,000 to one million passengers) - with the closure of many airlines. This will have a negative impact on the attractiveness of the regions for business and tourism. With lower revenues for the regions.
" With the increase in taxation, it is likely that certain groups of travellers will choose other countries or airports in neighbouring countries" says Nicolas Paulissen.
An example of what the future of air travel in France could look like. A Luxembourglast year, the airport experienced a growth of 7.2% compared with 2023 and 17.9% compared with 2019 with 5.2 million passengers. In an interview with the Luxembourg daily L'Essentiel, Alexander Flassak, CEO of lux-Airport, said that ". more and more passengers are coming from further and further away, particularly from France and the United States.Germany ". Strangely enough, the two countries that tax their air traffic the most...
