A tax on suppliers of jet fuel is planned in the 2027 finance bill, announced on Thursday, October 1st, to support the development of sustainable aviation fuels—fuels that do not rely on fossil sources. This tax would be paid by companies selling fossil jet fuel in France, not directly by airlines or passengers, as stated by the government. The contribution would be calculated based on the volume of fossil jet fuel each supplier puts into the market. The government has not set a specific percentage rate, a fixed amount per liter, or an expected annual revenue. Instead, each supplier’s contribution would depend on how much fossil jet fuel it sells, with larger volumes leading to a greater share of the funding. This tax is intended to support the development of an industrial chain for producing synthetic aviation fuels (eSAF) in France, a key step in the country's plan to decarbonize air travel by 2035. This approach aims to fund the industry’s transition without increasing the financial burden on public budgets. France is taking these steps to meet its European Union obligations, which require an increase in the availability of non-fossil aviation fuels. Currently, these fuels are scarce. The European regulation RefuelEU Aviation mandates that by 2030, at least 6% of the fuel in aircraft departing from the EU must be non-fossil, up from 2% today. The proposed tax aims to fund a system that allows airlines to access these fuels, which are currently criticized for being both expensive and hard to find. Airlines have expressed concerns that higher costs could drive them to refuel in countries with lower taxes. It is worth noting that jet fuel is taxed much less in France and many other countries compared to other types of fuel. According to the NGO Réseau Action Climat, taxing domestic flight jet fuel could generate about 500 million euros annually. In Japan, a similar tax has been in place since 1972 and generates between 300 and 500 million euros each year. However, the aviation industry strongly opposes such measures, arguing that higher taxes might push airlines to seek fuel in countries with lower tax rates. A study by Transport & Environnement estimates that all tax exemptions and reductions for the aviation sector amount to an annual loss of 4.7 billion euros. The market for jet fuel at French airports has long been dominated by TotalEnergies, France's major energy company, which competes with other large oil producers such as Shell and Repsol, as well as specialized firms like the Kuwaiti group Q8 Aviation.