Annual Monitoring Report 2020 - Cyprus
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/2422 of 5 December 2022
List of ACCs 1
Nicosia ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 0
<80’K 0
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1 EUR
2020: 1 EUR
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2020 1.6%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2020 0.8%
Share en route / terminal costs 2020 100% / 0%
En route charging zone(s)
Cyprus
Terminal charging zone(s)
Main ANSP
• DCAC Cyprus
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
• Department of Meteorology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Cyprus recorded 164K actual IFR movements in 2020, -60% compared to 2019 (411K).
▪ Cyprus IFR movements reduced more than the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
▪ Cyprus recorded 853K actual en route service units in 2020, -59% compared to 2019 (2,068K).
▪ Cyprus service units reduced more than the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ CYATS did not achieve the RP3 targets in any of the safety management objectives. DCAC Cyprus did not achieve the RP2 targets either and were already behind on plans to improve its safety management system (SMS) going into RP3. DCAC Cyprus requires significant improvements in its SMS to achieve the targets for RP3 (maturity must improve by one level in 11 out of 28 EoSM questions).
▪ The NSA adopted a safety program, which included a clear commitment to improve the safety oversight of DCAC Cyprus. Consequently, DCAC Cyprus initiated improvements in its SMS function – mainly employing additional safety staff – however the actions were halted by the pandemic.
▪ The PRB believes that achieving the RP3 targets should be feasible, but the NSA must ensure that the established plans are implemented.
▪ Cyprus recorded lower occurrences of separation minima infringement per flight hour than in 2019 and no occurrences of runway Incursions in 2020.
▪ CYATS should improve its SMS by implementing automated safety data recording systems.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Cyprus achieved a KEA performance of 3.89% compared to its reference value of 4.10% and therefore contributed positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ Cyprus admitted that the performance improvement was due to the significant fall in traffic and that it does not expect its 2020 performance to continue as traffic grows.
▪ Improvements already made such as airspace redesign in coordination with Israel and Greece are likely to enable more direct routings, but the impact of this is not yet clear since traffic flows were not as expected in 2020.
▪ Cyprus has no airports that are regulated under the RP3 performance and charging scheme.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ CYATS registered 0.2 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2020, thus meeting the local breakdown value of 0.36.
▪ Delays must be considered in the context of the traffic evolution: IFR movements in 2020 were 60% below the 2019 levels in Cyprus.
▪ When comparing the first two months of 2020, traffic was 16% higher than in 2019 but en route ATFM delays increased significantly (+149%). The main delay causes were ATC capacity and ATC staffing.
▪ Cyprus reported an increasing ATCO FTEs by over 4% compared to 2019 due to reallocation of tower ATCOs to the ACC. Actual ATCO FTEs are 6% below the planned values for 2020 due to postponed recruiting.
▪ Based on the analysis of previous capacity profiles, the PRB estimates Cyprus will face a capacity gap once IFR movements rise above 90% of 2019 levels. The PRB recommends that capacity improvement measures are implemented before traffic begins to recover.
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Cyprus decreased by 13.78 p.p. compared to 2019.
▪ Delays were mostly driven by ATC capacity and staffing issues.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Nicosia ACC was 18,309, showing a 38.1% decrease compared to 2019.
▪ Nicosia ACC registered 8.96 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 35.6% below 2019 levels.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The 2020 actual service units (853K) were 58% lower than the actual service units in 2019 (2,051K).
▪ Cyprus reduced total costs in 2020 by 4 M€2017 (-7%) compared to 2019 actual costs. The reduction is mainly due to a decrease of 2.2 M€2017 (-10%) in staff costs induced by less overtime, and a lower cost of capital of 2.4 M€2017 (-53%) due to both lower asset base and WACC.
▪ Other operating costs increased by 1.4 M€2017 (+6%) compared to 2019 actual costs due to a correction of cost allocation methodology as already included in the 2019 draft performance plan.
▪ DCAC Cyprus spent 2.6 M€2017 in 2020 related to cost of investments, 4% more than planned in the 2019 draft performance plan (2.5 M€2017).