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France's Steep Private Jet Tax Is Driving Charter Flights Down
France has been charging a steep tax on private jet passengers since 1 March 2025. Fresh figures now show the toll it is taking. Charter flights flown on French-registered jets have fallen by between 11% and 20% compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a report presented to the French parliament and covered by Aviation International News on 1 October 2026.
If you charter a jet to, from or within France, this matters for two reasons. The tax is already built into your quote. And the aircraft you fly on is increasingly likely to be registered outside France, as operators shift their fleets to stay competitive.
What Is France's Private Jet Tax, and How Much Does It Cost?
The tax is officially called the TSBA (the Taxe de Solidarité sur les Billets d'Avion, or solidarity tax on airline tickets). It is a per-passenger charge added to the price of a flight ticket. Part of the revenue is meant to help fund international development and climate projects.
On 1 March 2025, under the French government's 2025 budget law, the rate charged to business aviation passengers increased sharply. The current rates are confirmed in the French Ministry for Ecological Transition's own notice to operators, reissued in January 2026.
These rates apply to non-scheduled flights on aircraft with 19 seats or fewer, the category that covers almost all private jet charters. Domestic French flights also carry an additional 10% VAT (value added tax, a consumption tax charged on goods and services), on top of the per-passenger charge.
Charter Flights on French-Registered Jets Have Fallen Sharply
The AIN report, citing a French parliamentary study, found that movements by French-flagged charter jets fell by between 11% and 20% year on year. The French government's own impact assessment, published by the Ministry for Ecological Transition in November 2025, points to a similar pattern. French-flagged business aviation activity fell 11.8% in the second quarter of 2025, then 21.8% in the third quarter, each measured against the same quarter of 2024.
Over the same period, aircraft registered outside France flying the same type of business trips increased their activity by 4%, an official report presented to the French National Assembly (the lower house of France's parliament) on 28 April 2026 confirms. In plain terms, demand for private flying has not disappeared. It has shifted away from French-registered jets.
Paris Le Bourget, the continent's busiest private jet airport, sits at the centre of this shift. The airport supports an estimated 3,500 direct jobs and 10,000 more through its wider supply chain, according to EBAA France, the French arm of Europe's business aviation association.
Why Operators Are Registering Their Jets Outside France
The tax is declared and paid by the operator based in France. Many jets registered in other European countries fly the same routes in and out of French airports without being captured by the French tax in the same way, Corporate Jet Investor reports.
Charles Aguettant, president of EBAA France, has called the situation a catastrophe for French industry employment and competitiveness, he told the French trade publication TourMag on 15 April 2026. He said French companies are increasingly looking to register their aircraft under a foreign flag to stay competitive.
The French government had expected the tax to raise around €150 million a year from business aviation. EBAA France says actual collections have come in far lower, since falling French-flagged activity and the ease of avoiding the tax through foreign registration have both eaten into expected revenue.
The sector is not small. EBAA France puts the economic output of business aviation in France at over €32 billion a year, supporting more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs nationwide, and says the tax now threatens that base.
What Does This Mean for Your Next Flight?
If you are chartering a jet departing from a French airport today, the tax is already included in your quote. It is calculated per passenger, based on the distance of your trip and whether you are flying on a jet or a turboprop. Nothing changes immediately about how that charge is applied.
What is changing gradually is which aircraft are available. As more operators register their jets outside France to stay competitive, your charter broker may increasingly propose aircraft with a foreign registration for flights departing France. This is entirely legal and has no bearing on safety or service standards.
The tax applies only to flights departing from a French airport. It does not add to the cost of flights that merely overfly French airspace, or that depart from and land in other countries. When arranging a jet charter from Paris or another French hub, ask your broker to itemise the tax clearly in your quote, alongside any airport VIP transfer or onward helicopter transfer you might need.
Sources
- Aviation International News: Parliamentary Report Says French Flight Tax Hits Charter Operators Hard (1 October 2026)
- Assemblée Nationale: Rapport d'information (28 April 2026)
- French Ministry for Ecological Transition: TSBA impact assessment (November 2025)
- French Ministry for Ecological Transition: Official TSBA rate notice (January 2026)
- Corporate Jet Investor: French business aviation tax, EBAA hopes for reprieve
- EBAA France: Official statement on the threat to French business aviation
- TourMag: Interview with Charles Aguettant, EBAA France (15 April 2026)
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
What is the TSBA, and why is it making headlines now?
The TSBA is France's solidarity tax on airline tickets, a per-passenger charge added to the cost of a flight. On 1 March 2025 the French government sharply increased the rate charged to private jet passengers. New figures reported on 1 October 2026 show the toll this has taken: charter flights on French-registered jets have fallen by between 11% and 20% compared with the year before.
How much extra will I pay to charter a private jet from France?
For a flight within Europe, the tax adds €420 per passenger on a business jet, or €210 on a turboprop. For a medium-haul flight it rises to €1,015 per passenger on a jet, and for a long-haul flight of over 5,500 kilometres it reaches €2,100 per passenger on a jet. These charges are added to your quote automatically; they are not optional.
Does this tax apply if I am only flying through French airspace, not departing from a French airport?
No. The tax is charged on passengers boarding a flight that departs from a French airport. If you are simply overflying France, or departing from and arriving in other countries, the French tax does not apply to that journey.
Why are private jet operators registering their aircraft outside France?
Because the tax is declared and collected directly from France-based operators, while many foreign-registered jets flying the same routes in and out of France are not captured by it in the same way. EBAA France has warned this is pushing French companies to consider registering aircraft abroad, which weakens French-flagged aviation without reducing the number of flights.
Is the French government expected to change this tax?
There is no confirmed date for any change. EBAA France has publicly asked the government to lower the rate and close the gap with foreign-registered operators, but as of 1 October 2026 the rates introduced on 1 March 2025 remain in force.