Annual Monitoring Report 2020 - Bulgaria
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/778 of 13 April 2022
List of ACCs 1
Sofia ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 0
<80’K 0
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1.95543 BGN
2020: 1.95531 BGN
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2020 3.4%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2020 1.6%
Share en route / terminal costs 2020 100% / 0%
En route charging zone(s)
Bulgaria
Terminal charging zone(s)
Main ANSP
• BULATSA
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
–
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Bulgaria recorded 376K actual IFR movements in 2020, -57% compared to 2019 (879K).
▪ The reduction in IFR movements for Bulgaria is in line with the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
▪ Bulgaria recorded 1,766K actual en route service units in 2020, -56% compared to 2019 (4,032K).
▪ Bulgaria service units reduced less than the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ BULATSA achieved the EoSM targets for RP3 on all management objectives except safety risk management. The target was exceeded for safety promotion and safety policy and objectives.
▪ Bulgaria developed specific safety measures to achieve the acceptable level of safety performance in the National Safety Plan, which will be implemented between 2020 and 2024. Specific actions were undertaken to improve the EoSM level in safety risk management for BULATSA.
▪ The occurrence performance was good with a lower rate of separation minima infringement in 2020 than in 2019 and no occurrences of runway incursions reported in 2020.
▪ BULATSA monitors safety performance using specific automated safety recording tools for occurrences and it is one of only a handful of ANSPs to do so.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Bulgaria achieved a KEA performance of 2.55% compared to its reference value of 1.95% and therefore did not contribute positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ The significant deterioration in performance during 2019 was caused by new data reported to the NM by Turkey, which caused the KEA to vary without significant underlying change in operational performance.
▪ The NSA identified the Crimea crisis as well as airspace users’ preference for longer routes that helps avoiding delays or adverse wind patterns as reasons for its underperformance.
▪ Bulgaria will not implement any remedial measures and seems to absolve any responsibility to improve KEA now that it offers free route airspace and plans to implement all initiatives stipulated in the ERNIP and NOP.
▪ Bulgaria has no airports that are regulated under the RP3 performance and charging scheme.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ BULATSA registered zero minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2020, thus meeting the local breakdown value of 0.17.
▪ Delays must be considered in the context of the traffic evolution: IFR movements in 2020 were 57% below the 2019 levels in Bulgaria.
▪ The NSA reported some early issues in adapting the rostering scheme due to the pandemic but managed to resolve these without generating delays.
▪ ATCOs were also relocated to work on running projects, thus resulting in a reduction of over 5% of ATCO FTEs compared to 2019 (2020 planned values were not reported).
▪ Brussels ACC registered 10.01 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 54.1% below 2019 levels.
▪ Sofia ACC registered 16.15 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 31.6% below 2019 levels.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The 2020 actual service units (1,766K) were 56% lower than the actual service units in 2019 (4,021K).
▪ Bulgaria reduced total costs in 2020 by 15 M€2017 (-14%) compared to 2019 actual costs. The reduction is mainly due to a decrease of 13 M€2017 (-18%) in staff costs, attributable to a reduction of 30% in salaries.
▪ Cost of capital in 2020 increased by 0.3 M€2017 (+3%) due to an increase of the asset base.
▪ BULATSA spent 18 M€2017 in 2020 related to cost of investments, 9% less than planned in the 2019 draft performance plan (19 M€2017). The decrease is induced by a lower asset base than planned in the 2019 draft performance plan.