Passengers boarding aircraft in France will now pay a surcharge of between 70p and £27 depending on their destination, with the money raised going to an international fund to buy treatments for Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

The “air-ticket solidarity levy” has been vigorously championed by Chirac – who sees it as a trailblazing new tax on “globalisation” – but the airline industry is opposed to the scheme and of France’s EU partners only Luxembourg has said it will implement the measure.

After an international conference in Paris in March, French officials said 10 other countries had signed up to the initiative: Brazil, Chile, Cyprus, Congo, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nicaragua and Norway. Gabon has since joined the list, and was the only other country to start imposing the surcharge yesterday.

Britain says it is, in principle, in favour of an air-ticket levy but already has one in place that raises money for debt relief, while other rich nations such as the United States, Canada and Germany have rejected French overtures outright.

France hopes to raise £140 million a year for an international drug purchase facility, also known as Unitaid, whose function will be to use bulk-buying to drive down the cost of medicines for countries – mainly in Africa – that today cannot afford them.

According to the French foreign ministry, between six and eight million people die every year from the three major epidemics, many of whom could be saved if given access to treatments.

“A child dies every 30 seconds in Africa and no-one cares,” said foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, who has led an international lobbying effort to raise support for the drugs fund. Among his successes was a deal with the International Football Federation (Fifa) under which balls bearing the Unitaid logo are exchanged by captains at the start of each match in the World Cup finals.

By contrast with the lack of support for the air ticket tax, more than 40 countries have announced support for Unitaid, which should be operational by October once links are finalised with the World Health Organisation and other international agencies. The fund hopes to raise €1 billion (£700m) a year by 2008.

France says the ticket tax is a “simple, equitable, and economically neutral tool” for financing the drugs fund, and that it is appropriate to target the airline business because “it is one of the industries that benefits most from globalisation with an average annual growth of 5%”.

Under a law voted through parliament last December, passengers flying out of French airports will pay €1 (70p) in economy class – and €10 in business – if their destination is in the EU. For flights outside Europe, the surcharges are €4 and €40, depending on the class. Passengers who make a stopover in France of less than 12 hours, or who stay longer because of delays, are exempt from the charge.

French officials say that 70% of tickets bought are for economy class inside Europe. “Neither air transport nor the tourist industry will be affected. A contribution of a few euros will not stop anyone taking a plane,” said Douste-Blazy.

But the International Air Transport Association (Iata), which represents 265 airlines, has called on countries to abandon the ticket tax, which it says is unfair and inopportune at a time of rocketing fuel costs. “Air companies play a vital role in the economic development of nations, enabling access to world markets for goods and people. Increasing the cost of air transport is like biting the hand that feeds development,” said the Iata director-general, Giovanni Bisignani.

Views in the queue at an Air France office in central Paris were guardedly in favour. “I am from Africa and I know what these problems are all about – so yes I am for the tax. My only worry is that the money ends up in the pockets of the bigwigs like it normally does,” said Denis Thangou, a 38-year-old musician from Cameroon.

But 68-year-old Parisian Jacqueline Czerniszewska said: “In France there are far too many taxes. You’re squeezed every time you buy something. So one tax more or less, what difference does it make? You end up just accepting it.”

Sunday Herald, From Hugh Schofield in Paris