Annual Monitoring Report 2020 - France
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2023/176 of 14 December 2022
List of ACCs 5
Bordeaux ACC
Brest ACC
Marseille ACC
Paris ACC
Reims ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 6
<80’K 52
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1 EUR
2020: 1 EUR
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2020 16.3%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2020 21.5%
Share en route / terminal costs 2020 84% / 16%
En route charging zone(s)
France
Terminal charging zone(s)
France Zone 1
France Zone 2
Main ANSP
• DSNA
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
• Météo France
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ France recorded 1,390K actual IFR movements in 2020, -59% compared to 2019 (3,372K).
▪ France IFR movements reduced more than the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
▪ France recorded 8,547K actual en route service units in 2020, -61% compared to 2019 (21,782K).
▪ France service units reduced more than the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ DSNA achieved the EoSM RP3 targets in all management objectives except for safety culture. The performance of DSNA in 2020 is consistent with the maturity levels reached in the last year of RP2 and therefore there was no specific performance improvement.
▪ DSNA initiated activities to measure safety culture levels within its complex organisational structure and established an ANSP action plan, which the NSA considers appropriate and sufficient to reach targets by the end of RP3.
▪ The PRB acknowledges that measuring safety culture maturity in a complex organisation is challenging and DSNA only needs to improve the maturity level in one question out of 28 EoSM questions.
▪ The rate of occurrences were considerably lower in 2020 for both RIs and SMIs. DSNA should improve its SMS by implementing automated safety data recording systems for RIs.
Environment (Member State)
▪ FABEC stated that half of the Union-wide RAD simplifications applied in 2020 were within FABEC airspace and that eNM measures were not needed. This helped improve the shortest constrained routes within FABEC, but was not sufficient in helping to reach the FAB-level KEA reference value (2.90%) in 2020.
▪ FABEC also mentioned that KEA is proportional to delays and stated that this had an impact on the environment performance. The PRB does not agree with this as FABEC did not experience significant delays in 2020, but France itself did generate significant delays in the first quarter of 2020.
▪ At national level, France achieved a KEA performance of 3.25% compared to FABEC’s reference value of 2.90%.
▪ A specific factor that contributed negatively to France’s 2020 KEA performance was that military training activities continued at a high level. However, France stated that the unpredictability of military training requirements means it cannot accurately reserve airspace and that the current performance is likely the best it is able to achieve.
▪ Only five out of 52 French airports that are regulated reported terminal data. The share of flights operating CDO at French airports worsened in 2020 compared to 2019. The additional time airspace users spent taxiing or holding in terminal airspace reduced by 40% compared to 2019.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ France did not contribute positively towards the FABEC breakdown value: DSNA registered 0.61 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2020, thus not achieving the local breakdown value of 0.43.
▪ Bordeaux, Marseille and Reims ACCs produced significantly fewer delays than in 2019, Brest ACC generated only 0.03 minutes less average delay and Paris ACC generated 0.17 minutes more average delay than in 2019, mostly due to industrial action.
▪ Delays must be considered in the context of the traffic evolution: IFR movements in 2020 were 59% below the 2019 levels in France.
▪ The NSA reported that the new national pension scheme law introduced by the government was the reason DSNA staff used industrial action. The industrial action caused most of the delays in 2020.
▪ Based on the analysis of previous capacity profiles, the PRB estimates that France will face a capacity gap once IFR movements rise above 85% of 2019 levels. The PRB recommends that capacity improvement measures are implemented before traffic begins to recover.
▪ Delays were mostly driven by disruptions (ATC industrial actions).
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in France increased by 5.61 p.p. compared to 2019.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Bordeaux ACC was 62,604, showing a 14.7% decrease compared to 2019. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Reims ACC was 37,007, showing a 46.2% decrease compared to 2019. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Paris ACC was 58,905, showing a 42.7% decrease compared to 2019. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Marseille ACC was 68,661, showing a 31.8% decrease compared to 2019. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Brest ACC was 48,001, showing a 41.3% decrease compared to 2019.
▪ Bordeaux ACC registered 6.23 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 53.4% below 2019 levels. Reims ACC registered 11.58 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 22.1% below 2019 levels. Paris ACC registered 9.05 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 23.9% below 2019 levels. Marseille ACC registered 6.97 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 39.4% below 2019 levels. Brest ACC registered 8.62 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 36.2% below 2019 levels.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The 2020 actual service units (8,547K) were 61% lower than the actual service units in 2019 (21,837K).
▪ France reduced total costs in 2020 by only 7 M€2017 (-1%) compared to 2019 actual costs.
▪ DSNA spent 302 M€2017 in 2020 related to costs of investments, 6% less than planned in the 2019 draft performance plan (323 M€2017). The reduction can be attributable to a lower depreciation and cost of capital than planned.