The government has announced a tax on motorways and large airports, as part of the ecological transition plan. Bertrand Godinot, general manager of EasyJet in France, disapproves of this tax even though the company has just invested in less polluting planes and in CO2 sensors.
The government announced, Wednesday September 27, the creation of a new tax on motorway infrastructure and large airports. It will be examined from October in Parliament, as part of the finance bill for 2024. The general director of EasyJet in France, Bertrand Godinot, regrets this tax while the company is making efforts through innovation and investment.
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franceinfo: Friday October 13, an inter-union movement will focus on wages in France. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has recommended canceling 40% of flights at Orly, where EasyJet operates. What impact for you?
Bertrand Godinot: We have to follow the rules. We are doing our best to ensure the flights we can operate. And above all, we offer solutions to passengers who are impacted by an action to try to move them either to another airport or to another schedule. Tomorrow, there are around sixty flights canceled in France, in general.
EasyJet is the second largest airline in France and the first when we look at low-cost airlines. As you know, there is a tax in preparation on long-term transport infrastructure. It’s in the finance bill. Are the motorways and major airports affected, Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly, where many of the lines you operate depart from? Do you fear this tax?
In fact, we are trying to understand the benefit of a tax versus an incentive. We are much more motivated by an incentive. A few months ago, we announced a roadmap to no longer have a carbon impact. We don’t think that taxes will help invest in new generations of aircraft. On the contrary, what we are doing is investing massively.
“Today we are announcing an order for 157 new generation aircraft.”
Bertrand Godinotat franceinfo
But in the meantime, this tax is in the finance bill, which will be debated starting next week in the hemicycle. Aéroports de Paris has already said that it would be passed on to the airlines, therefore to EasyJet in particular.
Unfortunately, this will be passed on to passengers. We do not see the link between a tax of this type and the objective from an environmental point of view. So we are opposed to it. But above all, we try to innovate.
Knowing that Ryanair, which operates in Beauvais, will not be affected. Ben Smith, the boss of Air France, speaks of distortion of competition. Do you agree with these comments?
We think that we must relay the objective of the tax, which is environmental, and the reality. And it is believed that there is no connection between the two.
Today’s announcement from EasyJet is a big order: 157 additional planes ordered from Airbus for a total of 20 billion euros. Is that a sign of good health?
We are really very happy with this announcement. We are emerging from three particularly complicated years. Today we just announced our best results for a summer quarter in EasyJet’s history. This is very good news, with a profit of between 440 and 460 million pounds. That’s good news, with activity growth of 8% in terms of number of passengers. But above all, what is interesting is that it allows us to invest in the future with these aircraft. As I said, they consume less, they emit less kerosene. We also increased the size of the planes we had ordered. And in fact, what they allow is to consume less.
“This order will make it possible to have more passengers on larger planes and therefore continue to minimize the carbon impact of each journey.”
Bertrand Godinotat franceinfo
However, you still emit CO2 : 6.4 million tonnes of CO2 last year. At the same time as this order, you signed another contract with Airbus to directly capture CO2.
Indeed, Airbus is a major industrial partner. We are the first low-cost company to have announced a real roadmap towards carbon neutrality in 2050. It is about capturing carbon, and the principle is to have some kind of large fans which will allow to capture carbon and put it back into the soil. In this way, we will limit the carbon impact which is still ours today.