Cost-efficiency - Bulgaria
PRB monitoring
▪ The en route 2020/2021 actual unit cost of Bulgaria was 46.94 €2017, -4.0% lower than the determined unit cost (48.89 €2017). Bulgaria does not have a terminal charging zone.
▪ The en route 2021 actual service units (2,270K) were +1.7% higher than determined (2,232K).
▪ The en route 2021 actual total costs were -6.0 M€2017 (-6.0%) lower than determined. The decrease was mainly attributable to lower staff costs (-4.5 M€2017, or -7.5%), the primary reason was a prolonged decrease in salaries of BULATSA due to the deterioration of the COVID-19 situation.
▪ Other operating costs decreased by -2.0 M€2017 (-12%) mainly due to the postponement of a service level agreement, decreases of external services, and trainings. It is unclear why the service level agreement has been postponed, which might lead to potential future issues on the quality of service provision.
▪ BULATSA spent 18.6 M€2017 in 2021 related to costs of investments, +0.9% more than determined (18.5 M€2017) due to slightly higher depreciation costs.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2020/2021 was 50.83€.
En route charging zone
| Actual and determined data |
| Total costs - nominal (M€) |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Actual costs |
200 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Determined costs |
205 |
115 |
126 |
129 |
| Difference costs |
-5 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Inflation assumptions |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Determined inflation rate |
NA |
2.0% |
2.0% |
2.0% |
| Determined inflation index |
NA |
109.6 |
111.8 |
114 |
| Actual inflation rate |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Actual inflation index |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Difference inflation index (p.p.) |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
AUC vs. DUC
In the combined year 2020-2021, the AUC was lower than the planned DUC (-4.0% or -3.81 BGN2017 or -1.95 €2017). This results from the combination of slightly higher than planned TSUs (+0.9%) and lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-3.1%, or -11.8 MBGN2017).
En route service units
The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+0.9%) falls within of the ±2% dead band. Hence, the resulting gain of 3.3 MBGN is entirely retained by the ANSP.
En route costs by entity
Actual real en route costs for 2020-2021 are -3.1% (-11.8 MBGN2017, or -6.0 M€2017) lower than planned. This reflects the results across all the entities in the charging zone: main ANSP - BULATSA (-2.9%, or -5.3 M€2017) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL (-4.7%, or -0.7 M€2017).
En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level
The lower than planned en route costs in real terms for BULATSA in 2020-2021 reflects a combination of:
- lower staff costs (-3.8%), resulting from a reduction of salaries;
- lower other operating costs (-7.4%), reflecting delays and postponement of investment projects, specialised consulting services, trainings and travel;
- higher depreciation costs (+2.4%), reflecting the implementation of the investment plan; and,
- slightly higher cost of capital (+0.1%), resulting from slightly higher than planned asset base.
Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)
| AUCU components (€/SU) – 2020-2021 |
| Components of the AUCU in 2020-2021 |
€/SU |
| DUC |
51.24 |
| Inflation adjustment |
0.33 |
| Cost exempt from cost-sharing |
-0.13 |
| Traffic risk sharing adjustment |
0.00 |
| Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) |
-0.06 |
| Finantial incentives |
0.00 |
| Modulation of charges |
0.00 |
| Cross-financing |
0.00 |
| Other revenues |
-0.56 |
| Application of lower unit rate |
0.00 |
| Total adjustments |
-0.41 |
| AUCU |
50.83 |
| AUCU vs. DUC |
-0.8% |
| Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2020-2021 |
€'000 |
€/SU |
| New and existing investments |
170.5 |
0.04 |
| Competent authorities and qualified entities costs |
-251.3 |
-0.06 |
| Eurocontrol costs |
-457.9 |
-0.11 |
| Pension costs |
25.5 |
0.01 |
| Interest on loans |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Changes in law |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing |
-513.1 |
-0.13 |
The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in combined year 2020-2021 (99.38BGN or 50.83€) is -0.8% lower than the nominal DUC (100.18BGN or 51.24€) which includes DUC initially charged: 57.75BGN (or 29.53€); and to be charged: 42.44BGN (or 21.70€). The difference between these two figures is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+0.65BGN or +0.33€), to be charged to the airspace users in future years.
- the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-0.11BGN or -0.06€) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing to be reimbursed in future years;
- the deduction of the other revenues (-1.09BGN or -0.56€);
- and the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost risk sharing mechanism (-0.25BGN or -0.13€).
The share of regulatory result in the AUCU is 15.6%.
BULATSA net gain on en route activity in the Bulgarian charging zone in the combined year 2020-2021
BULATSA’s net gain amounts to +15.2 MBGN (+7.8 M€), as a combination of a gain of +11.9 MBGN (+6.1 M€) arising from the cost sharing mechanism and a gain of +3.3 MBGN (+1.7 M€) arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.
BULATSA overall regulatory results (RR) for the en route activity
Ex-post, the overall RR taking into account the net gain from the en route activity mentioned above (+15.2 MBGN or +7.8 M€) and the actual RoE (+48.1 MBGN or 24.6 M€) amounts to +63.3 MBGN or +32.4 M€ (16.8% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 9.2%, which is higher than the 7.0% planned in the PP.