PRB monitoring
▪ Belgium registered 0.01 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2021, thus meeting the local breakdown value of 0.07.
▪ Delays should be considered in the context of lower traffic: in Belgium, IFR movements in 2021 were 49% lower than in 2019.
▪ Traffic is expected to grow with 2019 levels likely being reached in 2023 (in high growth scenario). An increase in the number of ATCOs in OPS is planned during RP3 in Brussels ACC.
▪ Delays were highest in August, October and November, mostly driven by ATC Capacity and Staffing issues.
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Belgium increased by 1.73 p.p. compared to 2020 and was lower than 2019 values.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Brussels ACC was 28,453, showing a 1.0% decrease compared to 2020. Sector opening hours are 2.3% below 2019 levels.
▪ Brussels ACC registered 12.26 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 43.8% below 2019 levels.
Summary of capacity performance
NSA’s assessment of capacity performance
Monitoring process for capacity performance
Capacity planning
Application of Corrective Measures for Capacity (if applicable)
Belgium identifies only Brussels airport as subject to RP3 monitoring.
The Airport Operator Data Flow is fully established and the monitoring of pre-departure delays 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 levels in 2021 were still 50% less than in 2019 at Brussels airport. However, regardless of a 25% traffic increase with respect to 2020.
Average arrival ATFM delays in 2021 was 0.04 min/arr, compared to 0.38 min/arr in 2020.
ATFM slot adherence has slightly deteriorated (2021: 96.6%; 2020: 97.4%).
ATFM arrival delays at Brussels have almost disappeared in 2021 (EBBR; 2019: 0.90 min/arr; 2020: 0.38 min/arr; 2021: 0.04 min/arr). Delays were only registered in July, November and December. Most of these delays were attributed to weather (67%) followed by ATC staffing (14%) and special events (10%)
The provisional national target on arrival ATFM delay in 2021 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. No bonus will be awarded to skeyes for 2021 achievement.
| 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 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
| Brussels |
0.38 |
0.04 |
NA |
NA |
97.4% |
96.6% |
NA% |
NA% |
0.35 |
0.45 |
NA |
NA |
13.9 |
15.3 |
NA |
NA |
ATFM slot adherence
With the drastic drop in traffic, regulated departures from Brussels virtually disappeared until July 2021.
Brussels ATFM slot compliance in 2021 was 96.6%
With regard to the 3.4% of flights that did not adhere, 2.2% was early, 1.2% was late.
The FABEC monitoring report highlights that national level and main national individual airports involved are above the 80% threshold of compliance.
ATC pre-departure delay
The share of unidentified delay reported by Brussels was above 40% for more than 2 months in the year, preventing the calculation of this indicator. This was due to the special traffic composition in the first half of the year. Brussels had proper reporting before the pandemic and with the traffic recovery the reporting has improved since June 2021.
All causes pre-departure delay
The total (all causes) delay in the actual off block time at Brussels increased in 2021 (EBBR: 2020: 13.88 min/dep.; 2021: 15.29 min/dep.)
The highest average delay per flight was observed in the month of February, exceeding the 27 min/dep.
According to FABEC monitoring report: During 2021 the efficiency of airport operations suffered from the fact that travel restrictions and corresponding PLF regulations changed from time to time, leading to extra difficulties at departure, arrival and during transit resulting in delays for passengers and flights.