The Le Roux report recommends to cuts taxes in the airline sector.
More than 100 million of potential savings for Air France.
Air France-KLM, Santa Claus could be called Bruno Le Roux. President of the Socialist Group in the Assembly has indeed returned last night to the Prime Minister's proposals to improve the competitiveness of air transport, which could result in tens of millions of euros in savings for Air France.
The most newsworthy proposal concerns the so-called solidarity tax "tax Chirac", which should be applied to areas other than air transport, such as banking, insurance and retail. In 2013, this tax to fund the fight against AIDS in African countries, represented a drain of 100 million euros on French companies, including two-thirds supported by Air France.
However, another proposal in the report Le Roux could allow Air France to save as much. It would exempt transit passengers from paying tax of Civil Aviation, collected by the State. The levy on transit traffic without equivalent in other European countries, has in fact cost 65 million euros to Air France in 2013. And according to the company, and Aéroports de Paris, campaigning together for deletion, this surcharge on airline tickets would have helped to reduce the market share of Roissy-CDG in connecting traffic. Last July, the CEO of Air France-KLM, Alexander Juniac and his counterpart Aéroports de Paris, Augustin de Romanet, had also written to the government asking for the exemption measure, likely to increase the most profitable for connecting traffic, ADP and Air France.
Enhance the attractiveness of the hub at Roissy-CDG
If, as is likely, Manuel Valls follows the recommendations of the report, Air France and save each year to EUR 135 million. What allow him to return to profit. Especially at these two measures would add an in-depth review of the calculation of Aéroports de Paris royalties, in a more favorable direction to Air France. ADP decrease its prices on long-haul and medium-haul incentive for companies to rotate as fast as possible, which should also do the business of the second best customer, easyJet. This new tariff structure, designed to enhance the attractiveness of the hub at Roissy-CDG to its competitors in Europe and the Middle East, would take effect in 2015.
However, the hypothesis raised at the completion of the report a decrease in ADP charges offset by the reinstatement of the revenue from shops and other related activities in their calculation, remains highly controversial. For now, funding for aviation activities, unprofitable, shall be provided solely by the charges, ancillary revenues whose function is to ensure the margin. But this system of "dual till done" has always been challenged by companies that consider the profits generated by parking lots or shopping are with their passengers.
The only problem is a challenge to this system would greatly reduce the profitability of ADP and thus its market value, it is argued airport source. Which would be contrary to the interests of its majority shareholder, the state. Especially at a time when it plans to sell shares in airports.