{"id":196737,"date":"2025-04-07T08:05:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T06:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=196737"},"modified":"2025-08-12T17:24:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T15:24:45","slug":"reginald-otten-easyjet-france-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/reginald-otten-easyjet-france-interview","title":{"rendered":"R\u00e9ginald Otten, easyJet: \"wait until September to judge the impact of the tax increase\"."},"content":{"rendered":"
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What is the impact of the recent increase in the solidarity tax that came into force on 1 January?er<\/sup> last March?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

R\u00e9ginald Otten -<\/strong> It's still early to judge the impact of this tax<\/a> <\/strong>because it has only just come into force. We're not happy about it, we're against it, we've been very critical of the risk it poses to passengers, to French purchasing power, to the democratisation of air travel and to regional connectivity, because prices will automatically rise. We ourselves have increased the price of a flight by more than \u20ac5 because of the tax.<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Reginald
Reginald Otten, Executive Vice President France (Photo...<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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What is the impact of the recent increase in the solidarity tax that came into force on 1 January?er<\/sup> last March?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

R\u00e9ginald Otten -<\/strong> It's still early to judge the impact of this tax<\/a> <\/strong>because it has only just come into force. We're not happy about it, we're against it, we've been very critical of the risk it poses to passengers, to French purchasing power, to the democratisation of air travel and to regional connectivity, because prices will automatically rise. We ourselves have increased the price of a flight by more than \u20ac5 because of the tax.<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Reginald
Reginald Otten, Deputy Managing Director for France (Photo: Linkedin)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

That said, we need to keep an eye on what's going to happen over the next few weeks. Bookings for April are already well advanced. So even with the arrival of the Easter holidays, it will be hard to feel any impact. On the other hand, the summer season is going to be key<\/strong>This is the most important period for an airline. The impact of this tax should be felt during the holidays. Families travelling with 4 or 5 passengers will be hit threefold by this tax on their ticket price. It's powerful and it's going to hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has the tax increase put a question mark over your expansion in France?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

R\u00e9ginald Otten -<\/strong> Our biggest concern is the impact of the tax on domestic routes.<\/strong>. On the domestic front, we have double taxation<\/strong>on the outward and return journeys. This potentially affects business travellers<\/strong>. What's more, business travellers generally book very late. This adds to the cost of tickets. We'll be able to judge how demand develops at the start of the new school year in September, when companies prepare their travel budgets. Finally, another market that will be impacted is that of tourists coming to France. They are likely to choose European destinations where taxes are lower, or even non-existent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n