Annual Monitoring Report 2021 - Czech Republic

Contextual information

National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/772 of 13 April 2022

List of ACCs   1

Prague ACC

No of airports in the scope of the performance plan

≥80’K     1
<80’K      0

Exchange rate (1 EUR=) 

2017: 26.3115 CZK
2021: 25.6216 CZK

Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2021  1.9%

Share of Union-wide en route costs 2021  1.5%

Share en route / terminal costs 2021  88% / 12%

En route charging zone(s)

Czech Republic

Terminal charging zone(s)

Czech Republic

Main ANSP 

• ANS CR

Other ANSPs 

–

MET Providers 

• CHMI

Traffic (En route traffic zone)

▪ Czech Republic recorded 404K actual IFR movements in 2021, +19% compared to 2020 (340K).

▪ Actual 2021 IFR movements were +7.1% above the plan (377K).

▪ Actual 2021 IFR movements represent 47% of the actual 2019 level (867K).

▪ Czech Republic recorded 1,280K actual en route service units in 2021, +12% compared to 2020 (1,138K).

▪ Actual 2021 service units were in line with the plan (1,280K).

▪ Actual 2021 service units represent 44% of the actual 2019 level (2,936K).

Safety (Main ANSP)

▪ In 2021, safety performance of the Czech Republic was stable and not affected by the pandemic. ANS CR, that has already exceeded the EoSM targets in the previous year, undertook further actions to enhance its SMS function and to align it to Regulation (EU) 2017/373.

▪ Czech Republic recorded an increase in the rate of runway incursions and Prague airport (LKPR) recorded the second highest rate of RIs at 6.4 per 100,000 movements. ANS CR should consider looking into the reasons contributing to the rate and take appropriate mitigating actions, if necessary.

▪ The rate of separation minima infringements decreased in 2021 and is below the Union-wide average rates. The NSA closely monitors the rate of occurrences and assesses the effectiveness of implemented measures.

▪ ANS CR monitors safety performance using specific automated safety recording tools for occurrences, and it is one of only a handful of ANSPs to do so.

Environment (Member State)

▪ Czech Republic achieved a KEA performance of 2.03% compared to its target of 2.05% and contributed positively towards achiev-ing the Union-wide target. This is the best performance since 2017.

▪ The NSA states the main step taken to improve KEA was the implementation of free route airspace in February 2021, which allows shorter routes and increases the options for route planning.

▪ Both KEP and SCR were further reduced in comparison with 2020 and are at the lowest since 2017. The value of these two indicators is similar, meaning airspace users plan close to the shortest route available.

▪ The proportion of CDO flights remains at similar levels to 2020.

▪ During 2021, additional time in terminal airspace decreased from 0.67 to 0.50, however, additional taxi out time increased from 1.36 to 1.76 min/flight. Both values are lower than those seen in RP2.

Capacity (Member State)

▪ Czech Republic registered 0.01 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2021, thus meeting the local breakdown value of 0.06.

▪ Delays should be considered in the context of lower traffic: In Czech Republic, IFR movements in 2021 were 53% lower than in 2019.

▪ Between February and May 2022, Czech Republic has been one of the five Member States to be the most affected by the airspace closures East of the SES area, which impacted its traffic recovery.

▪ 2019 traffic levels are not likely being reached during RP3. A slight increase in the number of ATCOs in OPS is planned during RP3 with no capacity related delays envisaged.

▪ Delays were highest in April and August, mostly due to adverse weather conditions and ATC disruptions.

▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in the Czech Republic increased by 16.44 p.p. compared to 2020 and was lower than 2019 values.

▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Prague ACC was 25,853, showing a 29.5% decrease compared to 2020. Sector opening hours are 44.4% below 2019 levels.

▪ Prague ACC registered 13.98 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 21.2% below 2019 levels.

Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))

▪ The en route 2020/2021 actual unit cost of Czech Republic was 76.64 €2017, -3.5% lower than the determined unit cost (79.46 €2017). The terminal actual unit cost was 485.30 €2017, -3.2% lower than the determined unit cost (501.57 €2017).

▪ The en route 2021 actual service units (1,280K) were equal to the determined service units.

▪ In 2021, actual total costs were -6.8 M€2017 lower (-7.5%), with a decrease in all cost categories. The decrease was mainly driven by lower other operating costs (-4.7 M€2017, or -21%) and staff costs (-1.4 M€2017, or -3.4%). The NSA only explained the reasons for the variances between 2019 actual and 2021 (e.g. due to a decrease of travel, decrease of staff, etc.).

▪ ANS CR spent 25.7 M€2017 in 2021 related to costs of investments, -2.5% lower than planned (26.4 M€2017), mainly due to a higher share of financing through debt that led to a lower WACC.

▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2020/2021 was 84.11€, while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 526.46€.