TheChek News Flow

Airline ticket tax could triple and bring in 1 billion euros more by 2025

This solidarity tax has been subject to multiple increases and diversions since its creation in 2006 by Jacques Chirac to finance the fight against AIDS in Africa. In 2019, the Borne government added an "eco-contribution" to finance the renovation of the rail network. This is one of the ten taxes and charges weighing on air transport in France, and whose total amount represents up to 40% of the price of a

ticket.

But the planned increase in the TSBA would be equivalent to almost tripling the product of this tax, currently 460 million euros per year. With a special effort required of "high contribution" customers and distant destinations.

According to the different versions of the project, which all aim to achieve this objective of an additional billion euros,

the amount of the TSBA could thus increase from 63.07 euros for a long-haul flight in business class, to 200 euros for a flight of more than 5,000 km and 100 euros for a journey of 5,000 km and 1,000 km. In "economy" class, the tax would increase from 7.51 euros for a long-haul flight, to 60 euros for a flight of more than 5,000 km and 42 euros for a flight of more than 5,000 to 1,000 km.

As for intra-European flights of less than 1,000 km, as well as those to the French overseas departments, their fate has not yet been decided.

Initially, the government planned to spare them a further increase in the TSBA, knowing that taxes and fees already represent 40% of the price of a domestic flight, compared to 17% for a Paris-New York flight. But it was considering doubling the VAT on domestic flights, which would have increased from 10% to 20%. According to the latest news, it has finally decided not to touch the VAT. But an increase in the tax on intra-European flights is under consideration, with the idea of hitting low-cost airlines.

A new version of the TSBA is also planned for business aviation. According to our information, it could reach 3,000 euros per passenger for a long-haul flight in a private jet (and 1,500 euros for the same journey of more than 5,000 km in a turboprop plane with a propeller, even if this does not exist).

It will be added to the increase in fuel taxes decided in 2023.

Enough to please the left and environmentalists, for whom

business aviation has become one of the favorite targets. The previous government had already prepared the ground in the spring, with a study by the General Secretariat for Ecological Planning (SGPE) that recommended aligning the taxation of long-haul flights with that of medium-haul flights, in the name of combating CO2 emissions. This increase in taxation will further aggravate the competitiveness deficit of French air transport. A deficit that has already resulted, over the last twenty years, in the loss of one point of market share per year of the French flag in France, which fell to 38%. Because if the TSBA applies to all flights departing from France, it penalizes French companies more, first and foremost Air France. A spokesperson for the company points out that the Air France group is "the largest contributor to this tax, with more than

140 million euros collected in 2023 for Air France and

Transavia", or more than 30% of the total. "The project under study,

which represents a non-progressive doubling of the TSBA's revenue, is unprecedented. Its financial weight could not be borne

by airlines alone and would necessarily lead to an increase in the price of plane tickets,"

Air France emphasizes.

The more the taxation of flights departing from France increases,

the greater the risk of seeing a growing number of

passengers take their long-haul flight abroad. Which,

from a CO2 emissions point of view, is possibly

worse. In addition to the risk of traffic being diverted to other major hubs, there is the risk of France becoming less attractive to international tourists. Rather than entering Europe via Paris, tourists may find it more advantageous to arrive via other capitals. The increase in the TSBA is all the more worrying as it would be added to other increases in various costs in 2025. "France is one of the European countries where air transport is the most heavily taxed," Air France points out. In 2023, the taxes and duties paid and collected by Air France-KLM reached 3 billion. »

However, this amount will increase further in 2025, with the tax

on major airports, but also the possible increase in

tax on corporate profits with more than 1 billion euros in turnover, which would increase from 25% to 33.5%. Other charges specific to air transport are also planned for next year, such as the increase in civil aviation fees to finance the reform of air traffic control and the end of free emissions permits, the cost of which for Air France will increase from 100 million euros in 2023 to 300 million by 2030. Not to mention the additional billion euros represented by the objective of 10% sustainable aviation fuels by 2030.

Uniqlo Sister Brand GU and Luxury Label Rokh Team Up for Exclusive Collection

The theme of the collection is "Play in Style."

GU, a sister brand of Uniqlo and part of the Fast Retailing Group has partnered with Rokh, a fashion brand launched by designer Rok Hwang.

This exclusive collection will be available online on Oct. 18 at gu-global.com/us/en and at the GU NY SoHo flagship, which opened last month. It will also be offered at GU stores throughout Asia.

Primarily centered in Japan and other parts of Asia, GU seeks to attract more Stateside sales from its 10,225-square-foot store at 578 Broadway, as reported.

The collaboration with Rokh, which was founded in 2016, looks to offer customers an easy-to-wear assortment of practical on-trend items with affordable prices. Prices range from $24.99 to $99.99.

The theme of this collection is “Play in Style,” and features tailored pieces, playful layering and designs in muted color palettes that reinterpret the classics.

The Rokh collection features 22 items, each offering versatility and ability to mix and match according to one’s individual style. Key pieces include a quilted jacket, which can be worn like a cape by unzipping the sleeves and letting the arms extend freely, and a two-piece coat, which is designed for flexibility. It can be worn as a long gilet without the top jacket for early fall or can be combined for a full-length coat during colder months. The upper jacket can also be worn as a cropped piece.

Sizes range from XS to XL.

In addition, GU NY SoHo will offer exclusive colors of items, including a quilted jacket, a two-piece skirt and pants set, bustier combination shirts, a woolly scarf and mary jane shoes.

Hwang, who was born in Seoul and raised in Austin, earned a Bachelor of Arts in menswear and Master’s degree in womenswear from Central Saint Martins. He won first prize for Central Saint Martins’ graduate collection in 2009 and joined Celine in Paris, where he worked under Phoebe Philo as a ready-to-wear designer for her debut collection for the house. He later worked as a freelance designer for Chloé and Louis Vuitton. before setting up his own business in 2016. Two years later, Rokh was nominated for the LVMH Prize and received the Special Prize.

Currently based in London, Hwang’s collections are shown in Paris. Last spring, he collaborated with H&M on a 58-piece collection filled with Rokh classics such as the double trenchcoat.

“The inspiration behind this [GU x Rokh] collection comes directly from our customers,” said Hwang. “We aimed to create clothing that aligns with their desires and is easy for everyone to wear. My first visit to a GU store revealed a vibrant, enjoyable atmosphere with the freedom to coordinate various items. This inspired me to develop a collection that seamlessly integrates with GU’s existing lineup. The primary colors are natural brown and beige, complemented by nostalgic vintage hues like green and turquoise blue to add a lively and fun touch.”

He added, “In three words, I would describe this collection as youthful, fun and humorous. I always consider the wearer when designing my pieces, and I believe this collection will appeal to anyone with a youthful spirit, regardless of age. It offers numerous stying possibilities and showcases the joy of dressing up, which is a core value for both Rokh and GU. By providing versatile outfit options we hope to enhance the pleasure of fashion for our customers.”

GU was established in 2006 as a sister brand of Uniqlo and operates approximately 470 stores in Asia, mainly in Japan, as well as e-commerce sites in several markets. The brand offers contemporary apparel. GU leverages Fast Retailing’s extensive supply chain to ensure rapid turnaround times from design to retail.

Mytheresa is gearing for the winter months with a rapid-fire launch of cozy capsules from three Italian luxury brands.

LONDON — Mytheresa is feasting on Italian fashion this month with three exclusive capsule collections and a cultural trip to Milan and La Scala for the retailer’s high-spending customers.

Why Italy? Mytheresa’s chief executive officer Michael Kliger said Italian luxury brands make up a large part of the retailer’s portfolio and their outerwear, evening and accessories designs are all ideal for wintry activities.

“Moncler is perfectly timed because this is a critical couple of months for outerwear,” said Kliger, adding that the Loro Piana menswear moment is linked to the holidays, while the Tod’s capsule is linked to an exclusive customer event taking place in Milan.

On Oct. 16, Mytheresa will be taking top clients to Milan for an “immersive” cultural experience that will involve a tour of La Scala, a special performance and dinner at the historic opera house. More high-brow activities will follow the next day.

Kliger said big spenders continue to deliver for Mytheresa in a challenging environment for luxury.

“We had a strong summer this year. In the past, we would sometimes see a slight drop off in July and August as people go on vacation. This year, they still went on vacation but the online shopping continued,” Kliger said.

He was speaking from Paris, where runway shows were wrapping up after a three-week marathon. Kliger said that from what he’s seen, there’s a clear “trend back to fashion” for spring 2025.

“The Valentino show was really strong and we expect good results from that,” said Kliger, adding that Loewe also put on a good show.

“It’s also great to have Chloé back in full swing, because it offers feminine dresses at affordable luxury price points. The ready-to-wear has been working very nicely,” he said.

“I’m coming out of this fashion season with a sense of optimism. There is a good, new energy. We’re not out of the woods yet, and there is still risk out there, but outside of China I’m pretty optimistic about the next 12 months,” Kliger added.

Moncler will kick off Mytheresa’s month of exclusives with a series of fall styles set to launch on Wednesday. They include two puffer jackets, a quilted down midi skirt and the Greselin puffer for men.

Mytheresa will follow up with the launch of the Velvet capsule collection with Tod’s, designed by the brand’s new creative director Matteo Tamburini.

The collection, which launches on Oct. 16, has an urban twist and features materials including velvet and patent leather. Items include a structured blazer with matching tailored trousers in deep burgundy, as well as jewel-toned loafers and sleek clutches.

On Oct. 31, Mytheresa will launch a Loro Piana evening menswear collection in a palette of black and white.

There are mixed and monochrome looks, including cashmere coats with contrasting lapels, tuxedos, trousers with side stripes, and the brand’s signature Spagna shirt with an upright collar.

Accessories include velvet slippers and derby shoes, cashmere scarves, fedoras and bow ties.

The Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot parent company is looking to grow in the U.S. after scaling back in China.

PARIS — SMCP has named Ida Simonsen as president and chief executive officer for North America, effective immediately.

Simonsen, previously president at Stella McCartney, joins a French group that houses contemporary brands Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and Fursac. Simonsen had been at the McCartney company since 2012, and previously held roles at Marni and Dries Van Noten.

Simonsen will succeed Paul Griffin, who is leaving the group.

“Ida’s dynamic leadership, extensive industry expertise, and passion for people make her the perfect fit to lead our North American team. She has a proven track record of successfully navigating transitions and driving growth, and I am confident that she will inspire our teams and help us achieve new milestones in the region,” SMCP chief executive officer Isabelle Guichot said, disclosing the hire exclusively with WWD.

“I am eager to collaborate with the talented teams across the group to continue growing our brands and strengthening their presence in the North American market,” Simonsen said. “I would like to thank Isabelle Guichot and the rest of the SMCP board for the trust they have placed in me as we embark on this exciting new chapter together.”

Simonsen was key in building the Stella McCartney brand in the key North America region and helped expand its retail and wholesale presence in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Simonsen also helped guide Stella McCartney through its shareholder transition, when McCartney exercised her option to buy back Kering’s 50 percent stake in her brand in 2018, then sold a minority stake to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton a year later.

SMCP is in the process of restructuring its operations and global network balance. It is looking to grow its business in new territories including India, Indonesia and the Philippines after retreating from China following several quarters of declining sales there. The SMCP group operates about 1,600 stores in 46 countries.

Business in the U.S., Canada and Mexico has been stronger, with sales up nearly 9 percent in first-quarter results reported earlier this year. It is expanding its footprint in the region, including opening a new Sandro store in Montreal later this month.

SMCP itself is undergoing a shareholder change. Holding company Glas, which is serving as the trustee for creditors including funds BlackRock, Carlyle, Anchorage, Boussard and Gavaudan, was just given the green light to sell its shares by the London High Court.

The anticipated Glas sale would position SMCP as ripe for a potential takeover bid.

U.S. car sales are stuck below prepandemic levels despite better vehicle availability, more deals

High new-vehicle prices and borrowing costs are keeping some shoppers on the sidelines, pointing to what is expected to be another lackluster sales year for automakers.

Industrywide third-quarter U.S. vehicle sales fell 1.9% compared with a year earlier, according to an estimate from research firm Wards Intelligence. Most major automakers reported results for the July-to-September period on Tuesday.

General Motors GM 0.09%increase; green up pointing triangle, the nation’s largest carmaker by volume, said sales fell 2% in the quarter compared with a year earlier, with the company’s mass-market Chevrolet brand accounting for most of the decline.

Toyota Motor’s U.S. sales fell 5.6% in the quarter from a year earlier, with popular nameplates such as the Rav4, Camry and Corolla posting declines last month.

U.S. electric-vehicle leader Tesla is expected to report global deliveries Wednesday.

Analysts say the industry’s U.S. sales tally was dented by disruption from Hurricane Helene, which hit the Southeast on the final weekend of September, typically a busy selling period.

Meanwhile, auto executives also were bracing for any impact from a dockworker strike that took effect early Tuesday, shutting down ports from Maine to Texas.

Toyota built up extra vehicle stocks in recent weeks anticipating the work stoppage, said Jack Hollis, operations chief for Toyota in North America.

“They need to get to a solution quickly. It could be damaging to the whole economy,” he said.

The sluggish third-quarter results put automakers on pace to finish the year with U.S. vehicle sales of around 15.7 million—a slight increase from last year, when supply-chain snags were still crimping vehicle output, but still well off historic highs.

Carmakers posted five consecutive years of at least 17 million vehicle sales through 2019. Many analysts and dealers point to affordability as the primary reason why sales haven’t marched back to those levels.

The average new vehicle in the U.S. sold for $44,467 in September, down nearly 3% from last year as automakers and dealers offer more discounts, according to industry tracker J.D. Power.

But that figure is up from about $34,600 at the end of 2019, reflecting years of sharp inflation during the pandemic, when a shortage of computer chips and other car parts crimped vehicle production.

Those prices present plenty of sticker shock for consumers who might be returning to the dealership for the first time in five or six years, said Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at car-shopping site Edmunds.

“This market is still pretty unaffordable,” she said.

John Motroni, a retired television-news producer in San Francisco, said he and his wife were recently interested in Ford’s Maverick compact pickup truck, which starts in the high $20,000s.

But when a San Francisco-area Ford dealer was asking thousands of dollars more than the sticker price, Motroni and his wife decided to keep their 2009 Ford Flex sport-utility vehicle. “We just said, ‘To heck with it,’ ” he said.

The Federal Reserve’s decision to cut the U.S. benchmark interest rate hasn’t yet translated into significantly lower borrowing costs for car shoppers. New-car finance payments averaged $734 last month, up slightly from last year, according to J.D. Power.

In a sign of consumers stretching their wallets, more are turning to leasing to walk away from the dealership with less money out of pocket. Leases accounted for 25% of new-car sales in the third quarter, up from 20% a year earlier, according to Cox.

Consumers are also gravitating to more-affordable vehicles. Sales of smaller cars and SUVs are up over the past year, while sales of midsize cars and trucks and larger SUVs have declined, according to Cox.

“I don’t think that people really want these teeny, tiny vehicles, but it’s what they can afford right now,” said Cox senior economist Charlie Chesbrough.

The stagnant U.S. market is among several challenges facing traditional automakers, including fierce competition in China. Several European automakers lowered sales or profit forecasts in recent weeks, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Jeep maker Stellantis.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he expected the BOJ to maintain accommodative monetary conditions

TOKYO—The Bank of Japan should weigh any additional interest-rate increases carefully in order to avoid the risk of cooling the economy too much, the country’s new economics minister said Wednesday.

“I don’t believe that we have completely overcome deflation at this point, and I still cannot deny the possibility of falling back” into deflation, Ryosei Akazawa, the minister in charge of economic revitalization, said at a news conference.

“As long as I feel this way, we would like the BOJ to share our view that it needs to be cautious about raising interest rates,” he added.

Given that Japan experienced virtually no growth in wages and prices for decades, consumers still don’t believe that prices will continue rising, the minister said.

However, Akazawa isn’t fully opposed to further BOJ rate increases.

“It is not strange to normalize monetary policy if conditions are met,” Akazawa said. Although the BOJ ended negative interest rates in March and raised the policy rate to 0.25%, the level doesn’t look normal yet, he added.

Japan’s new prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, said late Tuesday that he expected the BOJ to maintain accommodative monetary conditions to help the nation achieve a complete exit from deflation.

DeepMind and BioNTech build AI lab assistants for scientific research

Artificial intelligence used to help researchers plan experiments and better predict outcomes

Google DeepMind and BioNTech are building AI lab assistants to help researchers plan scientific experiments and better predict their outcomes as companies race to find specialised applications for energy and data-intensive artificial intelligence models. 

Sir Demis Hassabis, chief of Google’s AI arm, is leading the company’s efforts to develop a specialised AI model to act as a research assistant, helping scientists to collaborate across disciplines and make unexpected connections more easily.

At a recent Nobel Foundation event, he said biology was “seeing a revolution” as a result of AI software.

“We’re working on a science large language model that could be like a research assistant and maybe help you predict . . . the outcome of an experiment,” Hassabis said.

Over the coming years, he said the tools that DeepMind was building could suggest and design experiments based on a given hypothesis and give scientists a probabilistic view on a proposed experiment’s potential success or failure.

Meanwhile, German drugmaker BioNTech and its London-based AI subsidiary InstaDeep said on Tuesday they had designed a specialised AI assistant known as Laila with a “detailed knowledge of biology” built on top of Meta’s open-source Llama 3.1 model.

In a live demonstration, research scientist Arnu Pretorius showed how the AI agent could automate routine scientific tasks in experimental biology, such as analysis and segmentation of DNA sequences, and the visualisation of experimental results.

Scientists at BioNTech’s laboratory in Mainz also demonstrated how Laila could connect to lab devices and monitor ongoing experiments or tasks being performed by robots, with the assistant detecting a mechanical failure from a BioNTech machine during a live demonstration.

“We do not believe that the future is full AI automation any time soon. We see AI agents like Layla as a productivity accelerator that’s going to allow the scientists, the technicians, to spend their limited time on what really matters,” Karim Beguir, chief executive of InstaDeep told the Financial Times.

InstaDeep also presented AI models that could help BioNTech identify or discover new targets to tackle cancers, at the first presentation of their technology since the Covid-19 vaccine maker acquired InstaDeep in 2023 for up to £500mn.

While recognising that rivals such as DeepMind could also build AI assistants, Beguir said having InstaDeep’s technology “under the same roof” as BioNTech’s expertise in biology was an “accelerant” for implementing AI and “unique” in the pharmaceutical sector.

The new scientific assistants come as tech companies spend billions of dollars on AI models and products, believing the technology can change industries from healthcare to energy and education.

The wave of AI innovation in science has so far focused on predicting new and useful drug candidates. However, the bottleneck in bringing new treatments to market remains performing experiments in the real world, which is the gold standard in scientific research.

The goal of an AI research assistant would be to simplify this process by more effectively planning experiments, for example by selecting the most promising from among a set of possible experiments.

Companies such as Google and Microsoft are adapting large language models — software that can generate text, code, images and even DNA or molecular sequences, based on large training data sets — to help facilitate scientific breakthroughs. 

In 2022, DeepMind designed an AI system known as AlphaFold that could predict the shape of almost every known protein, solving a 50-year-old scientific challenge and potentially reducing the time required to make biological discoveries significantly.

Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Paul Nurse said at the Nobel event in March that members of his laboratory “use AlphaFold all the time” in biochemical experiments, adding that the AI model’s output “isn’t always right, but it is sufficiently right to be a fantastic tool”.

Hassabis has since spun off this work into an AI drugs offshoot known as Isomorphic Labs, a group where Nurse sits on the advisory board, which has agreed partnerships worth up to $3bn with Eli Lilly and Novartis.

Microsoft’s AI4Science Research arm has also been harnessing LLMs to speed up scientific discovery. Its director Chris Bishop said at a research forum this year that one of the remarkable properties of LLMs was that “they can function as effective reasoning engines”, which is particularly useful in science.

Bishop said the team had worked with the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute to use LLMs to discover new molecules to treat tuberculosis more effectively.