Focus on France Ian Sparks reports from Paris

EURO-REPORT

FOCUS ON... France

Ian Sparks reports from Paris on a new outbreak of economic patriotism.

Political pressure is mounting on Air France to grant its multi-billion euro order for new aircraft to European manufacturer Airbus in favour of US rivals Boeing.

The French national airline is set to award a contract worth up to €20 billion for around 100 new jets at the end of July, with the aim of renewing its fleet over the next decade.

Toulouse-based Airbus, owned by European conglomerate EADS, and American planemaker Boeing are both vying for the lucrative deal which could secure thousands of jobs in both companies for years to come.

But a group of French MPs is pushing Air France-KLM – which is 15.7 per cent owned by the French state – to hand the contract to Airbus as a gesture of ‘loyalty to European industry’.

French analysts believe the Air France board is leaning towards splitting the order between the two manufacturers – a move that would give the airline a competitive advantage of pitting one planemaker against the other to get a better deal.

The French MPs, led by Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party deputy Bernard Carayon, have drawn up a petition calling for Air France to choose the Airbus and invited Air France boss Pierre-Henri Gourgeon to a meeting with junior trade minister Pierre Lellouche in the coming weeks.

Mr Carayon told the French press in June: “We try to encourage economic patriotism. Air France isn’t Air Boeing, and US airlines traditionally favour their own domestic plane manufacturer.”

Mr Lellouche added: “The French government helped Air France a lot when it ran into problems with EU regulators, and we expect the carrier to return the favour.”

But Air France have refused to reveal where they will place their order, with a spokesman only adding: “We are a private company, but Mr. Gourgeon frequently talks to parliamentarians and other government officials when they request meetings.”

Meanwhile, the French airline announced plans in June to start powering planes with ‘cooking oil’. More than 200 flights between Amsterdam and Paris would begin running on a blend of traditional fuel and waste oil from the start of September, Air France said.

Camiel Eurlings, managing director of Air France partner KLM said: “In November 2009 we demonstrated that it was technically possible to fly on biokerosene. Now, a year and a half after our first demonstration flight, a new phase has been entered around the world and authorisation will soon be granted to operate all commercial flights on biofuel.”

Air France-KLM’s biofuel initiative is part of a global effort by airlines to reduce carbon emissions. The International Air Transport Association set a target in 2007 to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from air travel by 2050.

But Mr Eurlings said the price of producing biofuel was still a barrier to 100 per cent sustainable energy. He added: “The costs of biofuels need to come down substantially and permanently. This can be achieved through innovation, collaboration and the right legislation that stimulates biofuel in the airline industry, but with an eye on honest competition.”

Biofuels are made from animal fats, vegetable oils and cooking oils and, when blended with traditional kerosene, can be used in planes without any modification to the jet engine.

Burqa or no burqa

Meanwhile in Paris, French travel industry leaders have said fears that the recent burqa ban could deter wealthy Arabs from visiting France and harm the lucrative luxury retail industry have not materialised. Experts said despite new laws in April making it illegal to hide one’s face in public, there had been no dip in travel bookings from rich Muslim nations.

Around 215,000 Middle Easterners visited Paris last year, and although they account for just three per cent of the eight million foreigners to visit France, they spend up to ten times more per head than non-Arab tourists.

The Hotels.com website said it had even seen a 219 per cent increase in the number of searches for France from its Arabic Middle East site since the burqa ban came into force. Searches for Belgium, which in 2010 passed a bill banning any clothing that would obscure the identity of the wearer, had also increased by 300 per cent, the website said.

A spokesman for the Saudi-based Al Tayyar Travel Group added: “France is the capital of fashion and ladies will never give up going to France, whatever they may or not be allowed to wear over their faces.”

The French law makes it a criminal offence for anyone to hide their face in public, including streets, shops, restaurants and behind the wheel of a car on a public road.

Under the rules, women can be fined 150 euros for wearing a burqa while men who force their wives to wear the garb can be fined up to 25,000 euros. Repeat offenders who refuse to pay up can be sent to prison.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has described the burqa as a ‘sign of debasement’. His immigration minister Eric Besson called it ‘a walking coffin’.

Senior police chiefs have called the ban ‘unenforcable’ and said officers were too busy fighting serious crime to go ‘burka-chasing’.

And leaders of Al-Qaeda’s North African network wrote on an Islamic extremist website: “We will seek dreadful revenge on France by all means at our disposal, for the honour of our daughters and sisters.” n