Annual Monitoring Report 2020 - SES RP3
Contextual information
No of ACCs 49
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 43
<80’K 103
Share en route / terminal costs 2020 83% / 17%
En route charging zone(s)
29
Terminal charging zone(s)
26
No of main ANSPs
29
No of other ANSPs
14
No of MET Providers
26
Main PRB findings - 2020
The data confirms the finding of the Interim Monitoring Report the PRB published in February 2021: ANSPs differed vastly in their reactions to the pandemic. While all ANSPs maintained their services, which remained a challenge during the pandemic, some showed little room for change against their plans prior to the pandemic and existing ways of working. Others by now have implemented new processes and adapted their structure. These mixed reactions are mirrored in the monitoring results.
Traffic (SES RP3 area)
▪ 4,456 IFR movements were recorded in 2020 at SES level, -55% compared to 2019 (9,985K).
▪ 52,500K service units were recorded in 2020 at SES level, -58% compared to 2019 (125,158K).
Safety (SES RP3 area)
▪ Safety remains the highest priority and ANSPs handled safety well since the outbreak of the pandemic. Safety levels overall remained as before COVID-19.
▪ 13 ANSPs achieved the RP3 targets for the Effectiveness of Safety Management for all manage\002ment objectives (based on the new revised questionnaire used in 2020).
▪ In view of the lower traffic levels, incidents and accidents related to the provision of air navigation services decreased, and the rate of occurrences remained stable compared to 2019.
Environment (SES RP3 area)
▪ Horizontal flight efficiency in the SES area improved with lower traffic and Member States met the 2020 Union-wide target. Lower traffic levels led to excess capacity and airspace users were able to fly more efficient routes, which contributed to the improvement of environmental performance.
▪ Performance would have been better if 11 Member States had achieved their expected contribution towards the Union-wide target.
▪ Data shows that structural problems continue to impact environmental performance: as soon as movements start to increase, extension of routes also increases even if traffic levels remain far below 2019 levels.
▪ Airspace users should continue to plan shorter routes for their flights when they are made available by ANSPs.
▪ Terminal performance (holding & taxiing times and continuous climb/descent operations) im\002proved due to fewer movements, which caused less congestion at airports. Going forward, airports will need to offer more terminal capacity as traffic grows to maintain the improved performance.
Capacity (SES RP3 area)
▪ From January to February 2020, traffic levels remained at forecasted levels – and capacity was insufficient. Like in 2018 and 2019, there were high delays during these “normal” months due to a lack of capacity, which indicates that the problems encountered in 2019 continued to affect performance in early 2020.
▪ After the sharp drop in traffic in March 2020, there were only minimal delays, which meant that most Member States/ANSPs achieved the 2020 delay breakdown values.
▪ The reduction of traffic resulted in excess capacity in 2020, indicating that ANSPs had only lim\002ited means to adapt their capacity to lower demand.
▪ Three Member States still failed to achieve their expected contribution to the Union-wide tar\002get: France, Spain, and Portugal.
▪ With reduced traffic, weather related delays disappeared suggesting that weather does not directly cause delays on its own. It is the combination of lack of capacity to deal with difficult weather situations and higher traffic demand that causes delays.
Cost-efficiency (SES RP3 area)
▪ The data submitted by Member States for 2020 shows that they reduced their costs by only 4% compared to 2019 actual costs (with 58% traffic decrease in service units).
▪ Compared to the draft 2019 performance plans submitted before COVID-19, Member States reduced their 2020 costs by 13%.
▪ ANSPs were aware of the sharp drop in traffic as early as March 2020, meaning that they had enough time to adapt and lower their costs for most of the year.
▪ With the sharp drop in revenues and Eurocontrol granting airspace users a delay to pay the air traffic management (ATM) charges for some months of 2020, ANSPs encountered a steep de\002cline in revenues. The monitoring data shows that ANSPs managed the gap in revenues in dif\002ferent ways using either their own- resources, loans or injection of equity by owners.
▪ A substantial gap in revenue remains, which airspace users will have to cover as of 2023 for many years. Given the dire financial situation of most of the airspace users, ANSPs should contribute to the recovery of European aviation by adapting their costs in their revised performance plans. The adjustment to the unit charges will come into effect as early as 2023 provided the Commission approves the revised performance plans.