Annual Monitoring Report 2020 - Austria
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/774 of 13 April 2022
List of ACCs 1
Vienna ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 1
<80’K 5
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1 EUR
2020: 1 EUR
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2020 2.9%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2020 2.8%
Share en route / terminal costs 2020 83% / 17%
En route charging zone(s)
Austria
Terminal charging zone(s)
Austria
Main ANSP
• Austro Control
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
–
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Austria recorded 590K actual IFR movements in 2020, -57% compared to 2019 (1,365K).
▪ The reduction in IFR movements for Austria is in line with the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
▪ Austria recorded 1,509K actual en route service units in 2020, -55% compared to 2019 (3,338K).
▪ Austria service units reduced less than the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ Austro Control did not achieve the RP3 targets for the EoSM in any of the safety management objectives in 2020.
▪ Based on the maturity achieved at the end of RP2, the EoSM performance is lower than expected (Austro Control exceeded the targets in all management objectives and was among the best performing ANSPs in 2019). Austro Control needs to improve its maturity by one level on 15 out of 28 EoSM questions to achieve the RP3 targets.
▪ The improvements to achieve the next levels of maturity have been identified and included in Austro Control’s specific improvement plan that will be implemented during 2021.
▪ The overall safety performance of Austro Control is stable and the rate of occurrences are lower than previous years.
▪ Austro Control should improve its safety management system by implementing automated safety data recording systems.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Austria achieved a KEA performance of 1.92% compared to its reference value of 1.90% and, therefore, did not contribute positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ The NSA explained that KEA is highly sensitive to traffic, which on some days increased to 80% of summer 2019 levels and caused KEA to exceed 2%. Moreover, adverse weather and airspace users’ choice for longer routes were said to affect the results.
▪ However, the PRB notes that Austria’s daily traffic variation data shows that it managed at 63% of its 2019 summer traffic levels. Thus, the reasoning is not consistent with the data.
▪ Only one out of six Austrian airports that are regulated reported terminal data.
▪ While the share of flights operating CCO/CDO at Austrian airports improved in 2020 compared to 2019, the CCO performance was at a similar level as 2017 despite less terminal congestion. The additional time airspace users spent taxiing or holding in terminal airspace reduced by 36% compared to 2019.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Austro Control registered near to zero minute of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2020, thus meeting the local breakdown value of 0.37.
▪ Delays must be considered in the context of the traffic evolution: IFR movements in 2020 were 57% below the 2019 levels in Austria.
▪ The NSA reported that on-the-job training of ATCOs was interrupted due to the pandemic. This, together with the reported changes in maternity leave and some ATCOs leaving unexpectedly, resulted in almost 5% less ATCO FTEs than planned by the end of 2020.
▪ Based on the analysis of previous capacity profiles, the PRB estimates that Austria will face a capacity gap when IFR movements rise above 80% of 2019 levels. The PRB recommends that capacity improvement measures are implemented before traffic begins to recover.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Vienna ACC was 35,749, showing a 35.5% decrease compared to 2019.
▪ Vienna ACC registered 11.84 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 29.5% below 2019 levels.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The 2020 actual service units (1,509K) were 55% lower than the actual service units in 2019 (3,325K).
▪ Austria had the second highest percentage saving in 2020 across Member States, reducing total costs in 2020 by 42 M€2017 (-20%) compared to 2019 actual costs. The greatest reduction has been staff costs, with a decrease of 46 M€2017 (-32%), due to reduction of overtime, salary, hiring freeze and public funding of short time work.
▪ Exceptional costs in 2020 are 5 M€2017 (+94%) higher compared to 2019 actual costs, in line with the 2019 draft performance plan (due to inclusion of cost exempt stemming from RP2).
▪ Austro Control spent 32 M€2017 in 2020 related to cost of investments, 5% less than planned in the 2019 draft performance plan (34 M€2017). The reduction is due to a lower cost of capital driven by a lower asset base.