France is to impose an ‘eco-tax” of up to €18 (£16) on plane tickets for all flights leaving domestic airports to fund greener transport projects, the country’s transport minister has announced.

Starting from 2020, the government will slap a tax of €1.5 on economy-class tickets and €9 on business class ones for all domestic flights and those remaining inside Europe.

Passengers flying outside of the bloc from France will pay a €3 tax in economy-class and €18 in business class, said Elisabeth Borne, the French transport minister.

All airlines will be affected. Connecting flights will not be taxed, nor will those to France's Mediterranean island of Corsica and its overseas departments and territories, she added.

The new levy is expected to bring €182 million into state coffers starting next year with the funds earmarked for greener transport infrastructure projects, notably rail, said the minister.

The decision to create the new tax was made by France’s new ecological defence council, created by President Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the “yellow vest” revolt and meant to show that the environment is on a par with other key issues like national security.

The ministerial council is supposed to make “strategic choices” to respond in a “radical way” to “the climate emergency”, he said after a national debate that ended in April.