PRB monitoring
▪ The en route 2020/2021 actual unit cost of France was 129.22 €2017, -2.1% lower than the determined unit cost (132.06 €2017). The terminal zone 1 actual unit cost was 178.34 €2017, -6.1% lower than the determined unit cost (189.83 €2017), while terminal zone 2 actual unit cost was 670.03 €2017, +1.7% higher than the determined unit cost (659.13 €2017).
▪ The en route 2021 actual service units (11,181K) were +1.9% higher than determined (10,969K).
▪ In 2021, actual total costs were -28 M€2017 lower (-2.2%) than determined, despite the increase in cost of capital and other operating costs.
▪ The decrease in total costs was driven by lower staff costs (-19 M€2017, or -2.6%) due to staff costs containment, and lower depreciation (-17 M€2017, or -10%). The reduction in depreciation was mainly due to the postponement of investments commissioning and because a part of the investment costs was transferred to project-related OPEX costs.
▪ According to 2021 reporting tables, DSNA spent 208 M€2017 in 2021 related to costs of investments, -7.1% lower than determined (224 M€2017) mostly driven by lower depreciation costs.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2020/2021 was 135.73€, while the terminal zone 1 actual unit cost incurred by users was 329.27€ and 447.86€ for terminal zone 2.
En route charging zone
| Actual and determined data |
| Total costs - nominal (M€) |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Actual costs |
2,650 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Determined costs |
2,668 |
1,357 |
1,382 |
1,407 |
| Difference costs |
-18 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Inflation assumptions |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Determined inflation rate |
NA |
1.2% |
1.3% |
1.4% |
| Determined inflation index |
NA |
106.3 |
107.7 |
109.3 |
| 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 (by -2.1%, or -2.84€2017). This results from the combination of higher than planned TSUs (+1.1%) and lower than planned en route costs in real terms (by -1.1%, or -28.1 M€2017).
En route service units
The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+1.1%) falls within the ±2% dead band. Hence the resulting additional revenue is kept by the ANSPs.
En route costs by entity
Actual real en route costs for 2020-2021 are -1.1% (-28.1 M€2017) lower than planned. This result is driven by the main ANSP, DSNA (-1.0%, or -21.9 M€2017), the MET service provider (-0.2% or -0.3 M€2017) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL costs (-3.5%, or -5.8 M€2017).
En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level
The lower then planned en route costs in real terms for DSNA in 2020-2021 (-1.0%, or -21.9 M€2017 lower) result from:
- slightly lower staff costs (-1.3%);
- slightly higher other operating costs (+1.3%);
- lower depreciation (-5.9%), “mainly in relation with the postponement of commissioning from 2021 to 2022 and the transfer of part of the investment costs to project-related OPEX costs”;
- higher cost of capital (+5.3%), due to increases in both the asset base (+1.3%) and WACC (+0.08 p.p.);
- lower deduction for VFR exempted flights (-3.8%).
Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)
| AUCU components (€/SU) – 2020-2021 |
| Components of the AUCU in 2020-2021 |
€/SU |
| DUC |
136.72 |
| Inflation adjustment |
0.54 |
| Cost exempt from cost-sharing |
-1.11 |
| Traffic risk sharing adjustment |
0.00 |
| Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) |
-0.17 |
| Finantial incentives |
0.00 |
| Modulation of charges |
0.00 |
| Cross-financing |
0.00 |
| Other revenues |
-0.42 |
| Application of lower unit rate |
0.00 |
| Total adjustments |
-1.16 |
| AUCU |
135.56 |
| AUCU vs. DUC |
-0.8% |
| Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2020-2021 |
€'000 |
€/SU |
| New and existing investments |
-16,077.7 |
-0.81 |
| Competent authorities and qualified entities costs |
-231.9 |
-0.01 |
| Eurocontrol costs |
-5,606.9 |
-0.28 |
| Pension costs |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Interest on loans |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Changes in law |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing |
-21,916.4 |
-1.11 |
The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in combined year 2020-2021 for France en route charging zone (135.73€) is -0.7% lower than the nominal DUC (136.72) which includes DUC initially charged: 61.27€; and to be charged: 75.45€. The difference between these two figures (-0.98€/SU) is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+0.54€/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-0.17€/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing to be reimbursed in future years;
- the deduction of the other revenues (-0.42€/SU);
- and the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost-sharing mechanism (-0.93€/SU).
The share of regulatory result in the AUCU is 3.6%
DSNA net gain on en route activity in the France charging zone in the combined year 2020-2021
DSNA’s net gain amounts to +35.7 M€, as a combination of a gain of +10.1 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism and a gain of +25.6 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.
DSNA 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 (+35.7 M€) and the actual RoE (+59.9 M€) amounts to +95.6 M€ (4.0% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 27.7%, which is higher than the 17.1% planned in the PP.