Air France to curtail Manila capacity to lessen Philippine taxes

Air France recently announced that it will effectively curtail its Manila capacity aimed at slashing its tax payments in the Philippines by half this year.

The airline in a statement said that Air France flights will depart from Manila half empty and they will instead be filled up at a stopover in Taiwan before continuing on to Amsterdam.

Air France has indicated that this year it wants to pay at least $2.5 million in taxes to the Philippine government. Earlier, it had paid around $5 million in taxes to the government in 2011.

Foreign carriers are required to pay a 3 percent common carriers tax and a 2.5 percent gross Philippine billings tax on cargo and passenger revenues originating from the country.

Air France has, however, stated that it willing to reconsider its decision to curtail Manila capacity if the government scraps the Philippine billing tax and common carriers tax imposed on foreign carriers.

The airline has prepared a new flight route keeping with its decision. Air France flights will be departing from Manila seven times per week at night, with a scheduled one-hour-and-twenty-minute stopover in Taipei each time to pick up more passengers.