While French multinational companies Michelin and Auchan announced large-scale redundancy plans in early November, the government now faces a series of potential strikes in November and December, against a backdrop of planned budget cuts for 2025. The transport sector is leading the response: in a statement published on Sunday, November 10, nearly all air transport unions called for protests against the government's intention to triple the solidarity tax on airline tickets.

The CFE-CGC, the National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions, the National Union of Airline Pilots (SNPL) France Alpa, the Union of Civil Aviation Airmen, the National Union of Flight Attendants and the Feets-FO federation haved called on their members to "demonstrate together, on [Thursday] November 14 in Paris," in front of the Assemblée Nationale. The organizations are opposed to the government, which, "as part of the 2025 budget bill and a budgetary sauve-qui-peut," wants to increase the airline ticket tax by 300%, raising €1 billion solely from airlines operating flights within France.

The government intends to increase the tax on airline tickets. For economy class on domestic flights in Europe, the tax will rise from €2.60 per passenger to €9.50. For medium-haul routes, it will double from €7.50 to €15 per passenger. Finally, long-haul destinations will be the hardest hit, with the tax rising from €7.40 to €40 per passenger. Airlines, including Air France, have already stated they will pass the full increase on to passengers, with some fare hikes already in effect.

The November 14 demonstration may be only the beginning of unrest among employees in the sector. The SNPL union, which represents over 75% of pilots with a French employment contract, has also called on its members to strike on Thursday, November 14, which will affect all scheduled and low-cost airlines operating in France, such as Air France, easyJet, Transavia, Vueling and Ryanair. Pilot mobilization is expected to be high. The SNPL has announced that the work stoppage will initially last 24 hours "for the time being," but warned that "it could continue" if the government doesn’t withdraw its proposal.

Pilots aren't the only ones denouncing the tax increase. "Several weeks ago, we began discussions with the government to alert them to the risks this measure poses to the competitiveness of French airlines, which are already in a fragile economic situation," pointed out Benjamin Smith, head of Air France-KLM, on Friday. François Durovray, the French transport minister, defended the tax on broadcaster Franceinfo on Sunday: "This tax has both the virtue of contributing to the recovery of the government's accounts, but also an environmental objective," he said.

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