Annual Monitoring Report 2020 - Hungary
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/775 of 13 April 2022
List of ACCs 1
Budapest ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 1
<80’K 0
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 308.993 HUF
2020: 350.891 HUF
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2020 2.7%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2020 1.5%
Share en route / terminal costs 2020 85% / 15%
En route charging zone(s)
Hungary
Terminal charging zone(s)
Hungary
Main ANSP
• HungaroControl (EC)
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
• Hungarian Meteorological Service (Országos Meteorológiai Szolgálat)
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Hungary recorded 381K actual IFR movements in 2020, -57% compared to 2019 (892K).
▪ The reduction in IFR movements for Hungary is in line with the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
▪ Hungary recorded 1,423K actual en route service units in 2020, -55% compared to 2019 (3,162K).
▪ Hungary service units reduced less than the average reduction at Union-wide level (-57%).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ HungaroControl has already achieved its RP3 EoSM target levels in all management objectives. The achieved maturity exceeds the maturity Hungary planned to achieve in 2020 in its 2019 draft performance plan in four out of five safety objectives.
▪ The PRB comments that compared with the maturity level reached during RP2, HungaroControl has continued to improve the maturity of its safety management during the first year of RP3 and now exceeds the RP3 targets.
▪ Hungary recorded a good performance with respect to safety occurrences with lower rates of SMIs with respect to 2019 and no occurrences of RIs in 2020. Both rates are below the Union-wide averages.
▪ HungaroControl should improve its SMS by implementing automated safety data recording systems for RIs.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Hungary achieved a KEA performance of 1.51% compared to its reference value of 1.45% and therefore did not contribute positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ Hungary did not explain why its performance fell short of 1.45%. Instead it was stated that removed RAD restrictions and improved cross-border free route airspace should have helped achieve the targets.
▪ Given that cross-border free route operation within SEE FRA is being expanded, Hungary has stated it plans to take no further remedial measures. The PRB believes that as the shortest constrained route in 2020 was higher than in 2018, Hungary must analyse why a less efficient airspace was made available in 2020 during low traffic and reconsider whether any remedial measures should be taken.
▪ The share of flights operating CCO/CDO at Budapest airport improved in 2020 compared to 2019. The additional time airspace users spent taxiing or holding in terminal airspace reduced by 38% compared to 2019.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ HungaroControl registered zero minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2020, thus meeting the local breakdown value of 0.90.
▪ Delays must be considered in the context of the traffic evolution: IFR movements in 2020 were 57% below the 2019 levels in Hungary.
▪ Hungary reported no capacity issues and a 4% decrease in the number of ATCO FTEs in 2020 compared to 2019. This represents an 8% decrease compared to the planned number of ATCO FTEs in 2020. The decrease was driven by the fact that training of ACC controllers could not be completed due to the lack of traffic in 2020. Hungary plans to complete these trainings in 2021.
▪ Based on the analysis of previous capacity profiles, the PRB estimates Hungary will face a capacity gap once IFR movements rise above 77% 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 Budapest ACC was 20,552, showing a 39.4% decrease compared to 2019.
▪ Budapest ACC registered 17.81 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 28.7% below 2019 levels.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The 2020 actual service units (1,423K) were 54% lower than the actual service units in 2019 (3,124K).
▪ Hungary reduced total costs in 2020 by 9.4 M€2017 (-10%) compared to 2019 actual costs. The reduction is driven by a decrease in staff costs of 4.5 M€2017 (-9%) due to reduced benefits related to performance and a lower social contribution tax rate. Other operating costs also decreased notably of 4 M€2017 (-12%), due to postponement of ATCO trainings and less travels.
▪ Hungary decreased all cost categories except for depreciation. The increase of 1 M€2017 (+10%) in depreciation costs is explained by the NSA by changes in useful life, price increases due to exchange rate effect, upgrade of Matias ATM system and new IT devices.
▪ HungaroControl spent 24 M€2017 in 2020 related to costs of investments, 18% less than planned in the 2019 draft performance plan (29 M€2017). The reduction is explained by a lower cost of capital resulting from a lower asset base and WACC than originally planned.