Annual Monitoring Report 2021 - Greece
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/2421 of 5 December 2022
List of ACCs 2
Athens ACC
Makedonia ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 1
<80’K 0
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1 EUR
2021: 1 EUR
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2021 6.1%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2021 2.3%
Share en route / terminal costs 2021 90% / 10%
En route charging zone(s)
Greece
Terminal charging zone(s)
Greece
Main ANSP
• HASP
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
• HNMS
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Greece recorded 569K actual IFR movements in 2021, +49% compared to 2020 (383K).
▪ Actual 2021 IFR movements represent 64% of the actual 2019 level (884K).
▪ Greece recorded 4,048K actual en route service units in 2021, +47% compared to 2020 (2,756K).
▪ Actual 2021 service units represent 67% of the actual 2019 level (6,005K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ HASP is required to improve its safety performance function only in the safety risk management area. Over 2021, a specific action plan was identified aiming at the adaptation of the safety management function in line with Regulation (EU) 373/2017. Significant initiatives are planned both by the NSA and the ANSP to restructure and improve the safety organisation in all five management areas.
▪ Greece recorded a stable number of safety occurrences with a decrease in the rate of separation minima infringements and an increase in runway incursions in 2021. Both rates are below the Union-wide average rates. The occurrences and the effectiveness of mitigations are closely monitored and analysed by the NSA.
▪ HASP should improve its safety management by implementing automated safety data recording systems for occurrences.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Greece achieved a KEA performance of 2.54% compared to its target of 2.00% and did not contribute positively towards achieving the Union-wide target. KEA has worsened since 2020.
▪ The NSA states that the target was missed mainly due to military activity causing traffic to diverge from optimal routes.
▪ KEP increased by 0.10 p.p. and SCR increased by 0.14 p.p.. Both indicators are at the worse levels in five years.
▪ The share of CDO flights has remained stable since 2018.
▪ Both additional taxi out time and additional time in terminal airspace increased compared to 2020, but still remain below 2019 values.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Greece registered 0.43 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2021, thus missing the local breakdown value of 0.1.
▪ Delays were higher than the breakdown value despite the lower traffic: in Greece IFR movements in 2021 were 36% lower than in 2019.
▪ Capacity performance was affected by ATC staffing (contributing to more than 80% of the delay) caused by the amendment of HASP recruitment plans as a result of COVID-19.
▪ Traffic recovery is robust with both ACCs experiencing up to 90% of 2019 traffic during the summer. Traffic is expected to grow, with 2019 traffic levels likely being reached in 2022 (in high growth scenario) or 2023 (in base growth scenario). The number of ATCOs in OPS is planned to increase significantly by the end of RP3. However, the 2021 delay performance was similar to that of 2019, even with significantly lower traffic.
▪ Delays were highest between July and September, mostly due to ATC Staffing issues.
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Greece decreased by 32.25 p.p. compared to 2020 and was lower than 2019 values.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Athens ACC was 49451, showing a 2.3% decrease compared to 2020. Sector opening hours are 13.4% below 2019 levels.
▪ Athens ACC registered 10.98 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 26.3% below 2019 levels.
▪ Greece registered an average airport arrival ATFM delay of 1.63 minutes per flight in 2021, not achieving the local target of 0.9 minutes.
▪ Compared to 2020, average arrival ATFM delays in Greece were 3842.96% higher in 2021, while the number of IFR arrivals increased by 40.15%.
▪ The main reasons for delays were ATC capacity issues, accounting for 95% of delays.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2020/2021 actual unit cost of Greece was 37.28 €2017, -8.4% lower than the determined unit cost (40.71 €2017). The terminal actual unit cost was 202.78 €2017, -13% lower than the determined unit cost (233.62 €2017).
▪ The en route 2021 actual service units (4,048K) were +1.9% higher than determined (3,973K).
▪ In 2021, actual total costs were -20 M€2017 lower (-13%) than determined. The reduction was mainly due to lower staff costs (-16 M€2017, or -14%), caused by changes of the recruitment plan due to the pandemic. Other operating costs were also significantly lower (-3.8 M€2017, or -11%), no explanation was provided by the NSA.
▪ HASP spent 1.6 M€2017 in 2021 related to costs of investments, in line with determined.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2020/2021 was 40.72€, while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 216.32€.