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  1. Capacity
  • Year report
    • RP3
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  • Poland
  • Overview
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  • Safety
    • PRB monitoring
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  • Environment
    • PRB monitoring
    • En route performance
      • Horizontal flight efficiency
    • Terminal performance
      • AXOT & ASMA
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    • CIV-MIL

  • Capacity
    • PRB monitoring
    • En route performance
      • En route ATFM delay
      • Other indicators
    • Terminal performance
      • Arrival ATFM delay
      • Other performance indicators

  • Cost-efficiency
    • PRB monitoring
    • En route CZ
      • Unit cost
      • AUCU
      • Regulatory Result
    • Terminal CZ - Poland EPWA
      • Unit cost
      • AUCU
      • Regulatory Result
    • Terminal CZ - Poland Others
      • Unit cost
      • AUCU
      • Regulatory Result

Capacity - Poland

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PRB monitoring

▪ PANSA registered near to zero minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2020, thus meeting the local breakdown value of 0.3.

▪ Delays must be considered in the context of the traffic evolution: IFR movements in 2020 were 59% below the 2019 levels in Poland.

▪ Poland reported no capacity issues and an almost 2% decrease in ATCO FTE numbers in 2020 compared to 2019 values. This represents an almost 8% deficit of ATCO FTEs compared to 2020 planned values and was driven by ATCOs being reallocated to perform other duties, as well as prolonged training due to the low traffic situation.

▪ The NSA reported to have continued all capacity improvement measures.

▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Poland decreased by 13.83 p.p. compared to 2019.

▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Warsaw ACC was 21,801, showing a 49.1% decrease compared to 2019.

▪ Warsaw ACC registered 15.36 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2020, being 20.0% below 2019 levels.

▪ Poland registered an average airport arrival ATFM delay of 0.02 minutes per flight in 2020, achieving the local target of 0.45 minutes.

▪ Compared to 2019, average arrival ATFM delays in Poland were 94.86% lower in 2020, while the number of IFR arrivals decreased by 56.16%.

▪ The main reasons for delays were ATC capacity issues, accounting for 40% of delays, and ATC disruptions, responsible for 42%.

En route performance

En route ATFM delay (KPI#1)

Focus on en route ATFM delay

Summary of capacity performance

Poland experienced a traffic reduction of 59% from 2019 levels, to 377k flights. The traffic level was accommodated with negligible en route ATFM delays to airspace users, 83% of which occurred in January and February before the traffic declined.

NSA’s assessment of capacity performance

Over 2020 delays in the Polish airspace were minimal (1,404 minutes in total) and were recorded in large majority in Q1 2020 (Jan-Feb, before the pandemic, when the traffic was higher compared to the same period in 2019: Jan +5.5%, Feb +7.2% according to PRU data). They were attributed to ATC Capacity. Since mid-March 2020, following the traffic drop, en-route delays were noted only on a single day in July and were related to approach to Kraków airport (demand exceeding the declared capacity).

The extraordinary traffic reduction related to COVID-19 pandemic and actions undertaken by PANSA to mitigate risks related to possible infection spread among employees as well as flexible roster planning responding to expected traffic evolution under the rolling NOP planning allowed for achieving the value of delays close to 0 minutes per flight.

Monitoring process for capacity performance

The process of continuous monitoring of ANSPs was conducted based on the Regulation (EU) 2019/317) and Regulation 2017/373. The monitoring process in 2020 was conducted based on the information received from ANSPs. Including ANSP’s business and annual plans and their consistency with the PP.

Despite the fact that the monitoring process was affected by COVID-19 pandemic, the monitoring activities of KPA CAPACITY were conducted systematically and were covering, among the others, the following areas:
- implementation of major projects aimed at increasing capacity and enhancing flight efficiency,
- execution of employment plan, especially operational personnel,
- execution of training plan,
- ATCO productivity.

The scope of the selected areas was chosen taking into account airspace users’ remarks, as well as CAA own assessment. All the above supervision exercise was providing the CAA the knowledge on the ANSPs Performance. The monitoring of progress in achieving performance targets set in Performance Plan for RP3 was performed also by dedicated Polish NSA inspectors during routine inspections .

Important part of the monitoring was preparation of data for the Interim Monitoring Report executed in accordance with the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1627 of 3 November 2020 on exceptional measures for the third reference period (2020-2024) of the single European sky performance and charging scheme due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Capacity planning

Due to COVID-19 pandemic and related traffic drop, year 2020 was exceptional - also in terms of capacity planning. Capacity planning focused on mid and long-term planning based on Statfor forecasts, NM data, PANSA simulations and internal recovery plan prepared by PANSA as well as short term planning (up to 4-6 weeks) under the NOP rolling planning initiative coordinated by the Network Manager. Rostering at PANSA also had to consider implementation of measures aimed at limiting the risk of virus spread among ATCOs.

Despite the traffic drop and along with the above mentioned flexible rolling short-term capacity planning, PANSA continued to implement initiatives aimed at improving capacity in Warsaw FIR to meet challenges related to traffic increase after the crisis as well as potential changes in traffic flows.

These included the following:
- continuation of new ATCOs training (continued training process for trainees employed before the pandemic breakout, while plans for additional recruitments to start 2020+ were suspended/revised, considering lower traffic levels expected by end of RP3 as well as difficulties related to training caused by low levels of traffic and COVID restrictions),
- continued adaptation of the air traffic management system (Pegasus_21) to operational needs and modernisation of the ATM system,
- development of tools supporting ATCOs and flow management optimisation (including Traffic Complexity Tool and update of CAT system),
- continued investments in infrastructure (CNS) and technology allowing for optimisation of airspace structures and optimisation of coverage in the Polish airspace as well as supporting contingency (although due to COVID pandemic and related liquidity issues investment plan had to be reviewed - see the chapter on Investments),
- finalisation of A-CDM implementation at EPWA airport as well as continued improvement of AMAN in Warsaw TMA.
Plans for the following years of RP3 include, among others:
- reorganisation of TMA Warszawa in 2021 – new sectors, new SID/STAR procedures,
- reorganisation of ACC Warszawa sector configuration - three layer vertical division - to be implemented under staged approach with the start in 2022/2023 (implementation postponed as compared to earlier plans due to traffic reduction following COVID-19 pandemic),
- reorganisation of TMA Kraków in 2022 – new sectors, new SID/STAR procedures,
- continuation of training process for new ATCOs (required increase in ATCO numbers as a result of planned airspace changes),
- refreshment training for current ATCOs to maintain their competence following the 2020-2021 significant traffic drop,
- continued investments in infrastructure (CNS) and technology allowing for optimisation of airspace structures and optimisation of coverage in the Polish airspace as well as supporting resilience, scalability and flexibility of service provision,
- continuation of flexible rostering,
- evolving ACC sector configurations and management to cope with updated traffic forecasts,
- continued FMP dynamic management,
- improvement of comprehensive airspace management.

Application of Corrective Measures for Capacity (if applicable)

No data available.

Other indicators

Focus on ATCOs in operations

Warsaw ACC: Data presented in table above include SUP ATM. COVID-19 pandemic and related traffic drop resulted in delay in the planned increase of ATCO as compared to initial 2019 draft RP3 PP (low traffic levels led to prolonged OJT training process). Moreover, over 2020 3 ATCOs were moved to other duties (due to internal needs) and are now disclosed under PRU category 2 (ATCOs on other duties), although they continue to support OPS working part-time on duty (not included in the FTEs numbers in the table above).

Terminal performance

Arrival ATFM delay (KPI#2)

Focus on arrival ATFM delay

For Poland the scope of the RP3 monitoring comprises a total of 15 airports. However, in accordance with IR (EU) 2019/317 and the traffic figures, only the main airport Warsaw (EPWA) must be monitored for the pre-departure delay indicators. The Airport Operator Data Flow, necessary for the monitoring of the pre-departure delays, is correctly established where required and the monitoring of these indicators can be performed. Nevertheless, the quality of the reporting does not allow for the calculation of the ATC pre-departure delay, with more than 60% of the reported delay not allocated to any cause. Traffic at the ensemble of these 15 airports decreased in 2020 by 56%. At Warsaw this reduction was 59%. Arrival ATFM delays decreased by 80% with respect to 2019 following the reduction in traffic and slot adherence at national level was 95.3%.

The national average arrival ATFM delay at Polish airports in 2020 was 0.02 min/arr, significantly lower than the 0.39 min/arr in 2019 (-95%). At airport level, only Warsaw-Chopin, Krakow and Warsaw-Modlin registered delays, all in the first trimester of the year. At Warsaw-Chopin (EPWA; 2019: 0.86 min/arr; 2020: 0.04 min/arr), delays in this first trimester were not high compared with those observed in 2019. 43% of the delays were attributed to ATC capacity issues, 41% to weather, 12% to aerodrome capacity and 3% to ATC staffing. At Krakow (EPKK; 2019: 0.03 min/arr; 2020: 0.04 min/arr) 48% of the delays were attributed to weather, 27% to ATC capacity issues and 25% to ATC staffing.

The provisional national target on arrival ATFM delay in 2020 was met. In accordance with Article 3 (3) (a) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1627: The incentive scheme shall cover only the calendar years 2022 to 2024.

Other terminal performance indicators (PI#1-3)

Airport level
Airport name
Avg arrival ATFM delay (KPI#2)
Slot adherence (PI#1)
ATC pre departure delay (PI#2)
All causes pre departure delay (PI#3)
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Bydgoszcz NA NA NA NA NA 94.0% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Gdansk NA NA NA NA NA 93.3% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Katowice NA NA NA NA NA 89.6% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Krakow 0.04 NA NA NA NA 95.9% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Lodz NA NA NA NA NA 100.0% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Lublin / Świdnik NA NA NA NA NA 91.7% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Modlin 0.01 NA NA NA NA 96.4% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Olsztyn-Mazury NA NA NA NA NA 88.9% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Poznan NA NA NA NA NA 97.9% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Radom NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Rzeszow NA NA NA NA NA 93.3% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Szczecin NA NA NA NA NA 95.7% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Warsaw 0.04 NA NA NA NA 97.5% NA% NA% NA% NA% 0.32 NA NA NA NA 9.3 NA NA NA NA
Wroclaw Airport NA NA NA NA NA 88.9% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Zielona Gora NA NA NA NA NA 100.0% NA% NA% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Focus on performance indicators at airport level

ATFM slot adherence

With the drastic drop in traffic, the share of regulated departures from Polish airports virtually disappeared as of April. The annual figures are therefore driven by the performance in the first trimester. All 15 Polish airports showed adherence at or above 85% and 7 of them (including Warsaw) above 95%. The national average was 95.3%. With regard to the 4.7% of flights that did not adhere, 3.4% was early and 1.3% was late. The Polish monitoring report adds that the following measures were/will be implemented at Warsaw (EPWA):
- implemented: A-CDM (2020)
- planned: Traffic Complexity Tool (2021), A-SMGCS (2024)

ATC pre-departure delay

The calculation of the ATC pre-departure delay is based on the data provided by the airport operators through the Airport Operator Data Flow (APDF) which is properly implemented at Warsaw (the only Polish airport subject to monitoring of this indicator). However, there are several quality checks before EUROCONTROL can produce the final value which is established as the average minutes of pre-departure delay (delay in the actual off block time) associated to the IATA delay code 89 (through the APDF, for each delayed flight, the reasons for that delay have to be transmitted and coded according to IATA delay codes.

However, sometimes the airport operator has no information concerning the reasons for the delay in the off block, or they cannot convert the reasons to the IATA delay codes. In those cases, the airport operator might:
- Not report any information about the reasons for the delay for that flight (unreported delay)
- Report a special code to indicate they do not have the information (code ZZZ)
- Report a special code to indicate they do not have the means to collect and/or translate the information (code 999)

To be able to calculate with a minimum of accuracy the PI for a given month, the minutes of delay that are not attributed to any IATA code reason should not exceed 40% of the total minutes of pre-departure delay observed at the airport. Finally, to be able to produce the annual figure, at least 10 months of valid data is requested by EUROCONTROL.

The share of unidentified delay reported by Warsaw was above 40% every month since April 2020 (preventing the calculation of this indicator) due to the special traffic composition during the months of the pandemic. Warsaw had proper reporting before April 2020.

All causes pre-departure delay

Warsaw is the only Polish airport subject to the monitoring of this indicator. The total (all causes) delay in the actual off block time at Warsaw in 2020 was 9.32 min/dep. The higher delays per flight were observed in the first half of the year. This performance indicator has been introduced in the performance scheme for the first time this year, so no evolution with respect to 2019 can be analysed.

 
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