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  1. Capacity
  • Year report
    • 2023
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    • 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
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    • Terminal CZ - France Zone 1
      • Unit cost
      • AUCU
      • Regulatory Result
    • Terminal CZ - France Zone 2
      • Unit cost
      • AUCU
      • Regulatory Result

Capacity - France

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PRB monitoring

▪ France registered 0.45 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2021, thus missing the local breakdown value of 0.18.

▪ Delays were higher than the breakdown value despite the lower traffic: In France IFR movements in 2021 were 46% lower than in 2019.

▪ The delays were mainly caused by limited ATC capacity, staffing and severe weather at Reims and Marseille ACCs with the training activities for 4-FLIGHT implementation, OJT and competency maintenance contributing to staffing issues. Specifically during the traffic recovery in summer 2021, the main delay causes in Brest, Marseille and Reims ACCs were ATC capacity and ATC staffing.

▪ Traffic is expected to grow, with 2019 levels likely being reached in 2023 (in high growth scenario). The number of ATCOs in OPS is planned to increase during RP3 in Bordeaux, Marseille, Paris and Brest ACC with no significant increase in Reims. The implementation of the new ATM system should also improve capacity in affected ACCs.

▪ Delays were highest between July and October, mostly driven by ATC Capacity and Staffing issues.

▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in France decreased by 15.75 p.p. compared to 2020 and was lower than 2019 values.

▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Bordeaux ACC was 80,480, showing a 28.7% increase compared to 2020. Sector opening hours are 9.1% below 2019 levels. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Reims ACC was 45,444, showing a 22.2% increase compared to 2020. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Paris ACC was 73,955, showing a 25.5% increase compared to 2020. Sector opening hours are 28.3% below 2019 levels. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Marseille ACC was 91,569, showing a 33.6% increase compared to 2020. Sector opening hours are 9.0% below 2019 levels. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Brest ACC was 49,235, showing a 2.5% increase compared to 2020. Sector opening hours are 39.6% below 2019 levels.

▪ Bordeaux ACC registered 6.58 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 50.7% below 2019 levels. Sector opening hours are 33.4% below 2019 levels. Reims ACC registered 11.99 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 19.7% below 2019 levels. Paris ACC registered 8.82 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 25.0% below 2019 levels. Marseille ACC registered 7.27 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 36.9% below 2019 levels. Brest ACC registered 10.59 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 21.7% below 2019 levels.

En route performance

En route ATFM delay (KPI#1)

Focus on en route ATFM delay

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)

Other indicators

Focus on ATCOs in operations

Terminal performance

Arrival ATFM delay (KPI#2)

Focus on arrival ATFM delay

For France, the scope of the RP3 monitoring comprises a total of 58 airports. However, in accordance with IR (EU) 2019/317 and the traffic figures, only 6 of those airports must be monitored for pre-departure delays. 52 of these 58 airports are grouped into a basket (“LFXX”) for monitoring and target setting purposes.
The Airport Operator Data Flow, necessary for the monitoring of the pre-departure delays, is established for the 6 airports required. Nevertheless, the quality of the reporting does not allow for the calculation of the ATC pre-departure delay at 3 of those airports, with more than 60% of the reported delay not allocated to any cause.
The traffic at the ensemble of these 58 airports in 2021 is still 40% below the 2019 levels, despite the 27% increase with respect to 2020.

Average arrival ATFM delays in 2021 was 0.23 min/arr, compared to 0.30 min/arr in 2020.
ATFM slot adherence has improved (2021: 88.4%; 2020: 88.1%).

The national average arrival ATFM delay has decreased for the second year in a row reaching 0.23 min/arr in 2021, compared with 0.30 min/arr in 2020 and 0.42 min/arr in 2019.

The higher delays were observed at Nice (LFMN), where the 2021 traffic recovered better than at the rest of airports ( in average 35% lower than in 2019). These delays were attributed to a mix of weather reasons (34%), ATC staffing (33%), ATC capacity (16%) and equipment (13%)

Paris Charles de Gaulle (LFPG) and Paris Orly (LFPO) only showed delays in the second half of the year mostly due to weather (around 50%) and then some industrial action in July for Charles de Gaulle and ATC staffing in November-December for Orly.

Lyon (LFLL) and Marseille (LFML) registered nearly zero delays.

According to FABEC’s monitoring report: At local level, all French major airports and the remaining group of airports have achieved a 2021 performance lower than their local monitoring breakdown values but Nice airport (LFMN) which had to face a strong traffic recovery during the Summer period (at the 2019 level, inducing some staff delay cause and also some technical and meteorological delay causes (densified rostering scheme should be implemented in 2022 and some additional work will be conducted regarding ATFCM and sector configuration management).It should be noted that half of 2021 limited delays (0,12 min/flight) were due to non CRSTMP delay causes.

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 DSNA for 2021 achievement.

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 2023 2022 2020 2021 2023 2022 2020 2021 2023 2022 2020 2021 2023 2022
Agen/La-Garenne NA NA NA NA 79.2% 85.7% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Ajaccio/Napoléon-Bonaparte NA 0.05 NA NA 76.4% 71.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Albert/Bray NA 0.00 NA NA 44.0% 72.7% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Annecy/Meythet 0.16 0.06 NA NA 74.9% 82.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Avignon/Caumont 0.23 0.02 NA NA 78.7% 84.8% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Bale/Mulhouse 0.41 0.05 NA NA 87.4% 89.2% NA% NA% 0.13 0.12 NA NA 8.6 11.5 NA NA
Bastia/Poretta 0.00 0.06 NA NA 80.7% 87.0% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Beauvais/Tillé 0.05 0.01 NA NA 72.6% 89.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Bergerac/Roumanière NA 0.14 NA NA 81.8% 89.4% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Biarritz/Bayonne-Anglet 0.05 0.15 NA NA 88.8% 93.0% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Bordeaux/Merignac 0.77 0.07 NA NA 91.5% 89.7% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Brest/Bretagne NA 0.05 NA NA 97.0% 83.8% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Brive/Souillac NA NA NA NA 95.7% 85.6% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Béziers/Vias NA NA NA NA 68.5% 70.7% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Caen/Carpiquet NA 0.00 NA NA 94.2% 92.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Calvi/Sainte-Catherine 0.07 0.28 NA NA 82.1% 87.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Cannes/Mandelieu 2.97 3.00 NA NA 93.4% 90.2% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Carcassonne/Salvaza NA 0.00 NA NA 81.8% 84.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Chambéry/Aix-les-Bains 1.67 0.08 NA NA 89.3% 82.5% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Châlons/Vatry 0.50 0.78 NA NA 78.0% 86.1% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Châteauroux/Déols NA NA NA NA 86.7% 84.9% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Clermont-Ferrand/Auvergne 0.00 0.01 NA NA 81.5% 86.9% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Deauville/Normandie NA NA NA NA 90.0% 88.6% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Dinard/Pleurtuit-Saint-Malo NA NA NA NA 61.3% 93.2% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Dole/Tavaux NA NA NA NA 59.4% 77.5% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Figari/Sud-Corse 0.18 1.24 NA NA 80.3% 76.8% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Grenoble/Isère 0.50 0.02 NA NA 93.6% 85.2% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Hyères/Le-Palyvestre 0.06 0.04 NA NA 81.1% 88.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Istres/Le-Tubé NA NA NA NA 66.7% 68.4% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
La-Rochelle/Ile de Ré NA NA NA NA 81.2% 89.2% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Lille/Lesquin 0.33 0.01 NA NA 86.1% 87.7% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Limoges/Bellegarde 0.19 0.11 NA NA 93.4% 92.4% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Lorient/Lann-Bihoué NA NA NA NA 88.8% 88.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Lyon 0.03 0.00 NA NA 84.5% 84.1% NA% NA% 0.17 0.21 NA NA 12.0 11.9 NA NA
Lyon/Bron 0.01 NA NA NA 89.5% 83.8% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Marseille/Provence 0.10 0.01 NA NA 78.3% 83.4% NA% NA% NA 0.05 NA NA 9.6 9.9 NA NA
Metz-Nancy/Lorraine NA NA NA NA 82.5% 84.6% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Montpellier/Méditerranée 0.01 NA NA NA 75.1% 84.6% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Nantes 0.24 0.08 NA NA 91.6% 91.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Nice 0.13 0.39 NA NA 87.7% 88.8% NA% NA% 0.21 0.38 NA NA 7.5 10.5 NA NA
Nîmes/Garons NA 0.02 NA NA 83.4% 82.5% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Paris/Charles-De-Gaulle 0.11 0.22 NA NA 95.4% 94.7% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA 12.9 17.1 NA NA
Paris/Le Bourget 0.60 0.53 NA NA 94.2% 95.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Paris/Orly 0.96 0.25 NA NA 87.3% 90.4% NA% NA% 0.33 0.49 NA NA 13.4 12.5 NA NA
Pau/Pyrénées 1.45 0.00 NA NA 85.9% 87.6% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Perpignan/Rivesaltes 0.07 0.03 NA NA 77.4% 77.0% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Poitiers/Biard NA NA NA NA 87.8% 72.5% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Quimper/Pluguffan NA NA NA NA 84.7% 90.6% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Rennes/St-Jacques NA NA NA NA 78.7% 86.7% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Rodez/Marcillac NA NA NA NA 88.5% 82.5% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Rouen/Vallée-de-Seine NA 0.27 NA NA NA 83.9% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Saint-Etienne/Bouthéon NA NA NA NA 79.6% 86.8% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Saint-Nazaire/Montoir NA NA NA NA 97.2% 94.7% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Strasbourg/Entzheim 0.03 0.01 NA NA 79.6% 88.9% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Tarbes-Lourdes/Pyrénées NA 0.02 NA NA 90.5% 91.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Toulouse/Blagnac 0.16 0.26 NA NA 90.2% 89.0% NA% NA% 0.17 0.21 NA NA 8.9 8.3 NA NA
Tours/Val-de-Loire 0.00 0.11 NA NA 50.0% 0.0% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Toussus/Le-Noble 0.97 0.89 NA NA 77.7% 88.3% NA% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Focus on performance indicators at airport level

ATFM slot adherence

National level and main national individual airports involved are above the 80% threshold of compliance.
The national average was 88.4%, slightly better than in 2020 when the adherence was 88.1%. With regard to the 11.6% of flights that did not adhere, 5.6% was early and 6% was late.

According to FABEC monitoring report: DSNA identified in 2021 that a reason generating a lack of measured adherence in 2020 for Marseille (LFML)was a wrong information sent to NMOC. Indeed, except in the two main Paris airports, the signal for activating the flight plan in the current FDPS system of DSNA (CAUTRA) is also used as the first system activation message (FSA) signal sent to the NMOC. However, this takes place at a time after off-block time (OBT), but well before the actual take-off, while it is interpreted by NMOC as Take-Off Time (TOT). Hence, NMOC detects a large percentage of regulated flights as taking off in advance of the tolerance window, although the actual take-off time is later and actually generally within the STW.

This appeared in particular for Marseille (LFML) airport. This is was acknowledged by DSNA as a clear deviation on many airports where the taxiing time is significant. This default has however been corrected in Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Orly through a specific local system that allows sending the NMOC a correct take-off time (TOT).

However, an in depth analysis of past results in Marseille (LFML) conducted in 2021 has shown that the root causes were less operational in terms of ATC management but due to problems in calculating the correct CTOT; so the issue was more about the correct calibration of the CTOT calculation than about the accuracy of the detection of actual take-offs (as a reminder, either the ATS unit has an automatic take-off detection system and the “FSA” (First System Activation) message is sent to the NM as close as possible to this event, or the NM itself recalibrates the take-off time using the CPRs).

The Marseille (LFML) Operations Department has modified in coordination with the NM the parameters of the LFML taxi time thus the CTOT calculation has been improved and the CTOT compliance measurement has been more adequate; as a result, we can observe an increase in the CTOT compliance rate which brings LFML back to a good level: figures for 2021 now show a compliance of 83.4%.

ATC pre-departure delay

The share of unidentified delay reported by 3 out of the 6 French airports subject to this monitoring in 2020 was above 40% for more than 2 months in the year, preventing the calculation of this indicator. This is partially due to the special traffic composition during the COVID crisis, and there has been some improvement in the reporting with the traffic recovery, although not at all airports.
The insufficient data quality provided by Charles de Gaulle is a long standing issue prior to April 2020, and the reporting by Marseille has improved significantly by still not enough.
At Nice the performance has deteriorated with the traffic recovery (LFMN; 2019: 0.31 min/dep.; 2020: 0.21 min/dep.; 2021: 0.38 min/dep.). FABEC monitoring report mentions that LFMN also faced some more capacity issues in 2021 than in 2020 due to the traffic Summer recovery.

All causes pre-departure delay

The total (all causes) delay in the actual off block time at French airports in 2021 was between 8.28 min/dep for Toulouse(LFBO) and 17.09 min/dep. for Paris Charles de Gaulle (LFPG) which was the 4th highest among the RP3 monitored airports.
The highest delays per flight at these airports were observed in Summer and December
According to FABEC monitoring report: Regarding LFMN: A new densified rostering scheme should be implemented in order to improve this situation. Some work will also be done to implement a better ATFCM and sector configuration management.
Regarding LFPG, half of the 2021 delays were due to meteorological causes and remaining 40% were due to strikes at the airport operator and also for a minor part due to the 14th July event management. No special measures is needed on the ATC side.

 
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