G7 Club Affaires are "normal" licensed Paris cabs, not a "private operator" in the sense of operating outside the licensed system. G7 is the largest licensed taxi operator in Paris. "Club Affaires" is a special by-subscription only service with a sub-fleet of mostly Mercedes E Class, Volvo V70, and that Chrysler tank whose name I forgot. Subscribers are guaranteed to get one of the 4,500 sub-fleet vehicles. But sometimes these cars also take non-subscriber runs and can be hailed in the street when they are available. There are some other services that come with the Club subscription as well.

Fares are per the normal Paris taxi counter, but the total cost is much higher. You need to have a yearly subscription for around EUR 1,200 (otherwise they add around EUR 10 per ride) and then they add 18% per fare. The counter starts from the moment that they get the order to pick you up, and keeps on ticking while they wait for you. So if you have pre-ordered your cab before departing from New York the following may happen: plane supposed to arrive at 7h00. Taxi gets the order to pick you up at 06h40, starts the counter and gets moving to your arrival terminal. Strong headwind, you land at 07h45. Lots of people at passport or you have to wait for you luggage, you get out into the arrivals hall around 8h30. In the meantime the taxi's counter has been running for almost 2 hours, around EUR 100, without having transported you a single millimeter. Then you head into Paris, heavy traffic. Driver doesn't bother taking a faster route, so you clog up another EUR 75 just for the ride. That brings you to around EUR 180. Then they add 18% service fee. You end up paying well over EUR 200 for your taxi ride. Compare that to the EUR 65 fixed fare for LeCab.

So it's obvious what will happen: LeCab, unless they have service failures on things like not picking up people or other things, will take away market share from taxis, and Club Affaires.

Now what happens in France when your cosy position is threatened by another product that provides a better value proposition (price, quality, both)? Well, as always, you don't improve your own offering. Instead you complain (taxi drivers have complained), go on strike (taxi drivers went on strike) and be protected (just happening). When Japanese cars got big in Europe, France called for protectionist measures - but French cars didn't get better. When the economy is doing badly, blame the Germans - but don't follow their example. When Emirates takes AF's passengers complain about "unfair competition" and restrict landing slots - but don't improve your own product. When foreign rail or electricity companies want to enter the French market - just decide not to respect European free market rules. When a better car service becomes available threatening taxis - don't improve the taxis, but curtail the new competitor's possibilities to grow.

By the way, when will Air France introduce its own trains? There was an announcement some time ago about them wanting to run their own trains on routes to places like Brussels, Strasbourg, Nantes... Was that for 2014 or 2015? In that context the new lounge makes sense.