French PM's €350,000 flight: "a considerable sum" (Griveaux) The French government's spokesperson said on Wednesday that he could understand why the cost of the €350,000 private Tokyo-Paris flight that Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and his delegation took at the beginning of December could "upset people". He added that the overall trip was 30% less expensive than the one former prime minister Manuel Valls took to New Caledonia in 2016. The prime minister's office has argued that Philippe needed to be back in Paris urgently because President Emmanuel Macron was leaving the country. SOUNDBITE