Cost-efficiency - Greece

PRB monitoring

▪ 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€.

En route charging zone

Unit cost (KPI#1)

Actual and determined data
Total costs - nominal (M€) 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Actual costs 257 NA NA NA
Determined costs 277 172 189 204
Difference costs −20 NA NA NA
Inflation assumptions 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Determined inflation rate NA 4.5% 1.3% 1.6%
Determined inflation index NA 106.5 107.9 109.7
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

The AUC for the combined year 2020-2021 corresponds to 37.28€2017 and was lower by
-8.4% (or -3.43€2017) from DUC (40.71€2017). This results from the combination of slightly higher than planned TSUs (+1.1%) and lower than planned en route costs in real terms (by -7.4%, or -20.3 M€2017).

En route service units

The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+1.1%) falls within the ±2% dead band. Hence the resulting gain is kepty by the ANSPs.

En route costs by entity

Actual real en route costs for 2020-2021 are -7.4% (-20.3 M€2017) lower than planned. This result is driven by the main ANSP (HCAA, now HASP) with the costs lower by -7.4% (-16.1 M€2017), NSA/EUROCONTROL with costs lower by -7.7% (-3.1 M€2017) and the METSP with a costs decrease of -6.2% (-1.1 M€2017).

En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level

Overall, the en route costs in real terms for HCAA (now HASP) in 2020-2021 were lower by -7.4% (-16.1 M€2017) comparing with the determined costs from the performance plan. This is mainly the result of:
- lower staff costs (-8.3% or -15.2 M€2017) reflecting the amendments to the recruitment plan implemented during COVID-19 crisis;
- lower other operating costs (-3.1% or -0.9 M€2017) due to costs savings in 2021; and
- lower deduction of the costs of exempted VFR flights (-7.9%)
No difference is observed for the cost of capital and depreciation for HCAA (HASP) in combined year 2020-2021.

Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)

AUCU components (€/SU) – 2020-2021
Components of the AUCU in 2020-2021 €/SU
DUC 41.19
Inflation adjustment 0.09
Cost exempt from cost-sharing −0.46
Traffic risk sharing adjustment 0.00
Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) −0.09
Finantial incentives 0.00
Modulation of charges 0.00
Cross-financing 0.00
Other revenues 0.00
Application of lower unit rate 0.00
Total adjustments −0.47
AUCU 40.72
AUCU vs. DUC −1.1%
Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2020-2021 €'000 €/SU
New and existing investments −22.5 0.00
Competent authorities and qualified entities costs −2,552.6 −0.38
Eurocontrol costs −553.2 −0.08
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 −3,128.4 −0.46

The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in the combined year 2020-2021 (40.72€) is -1.1% lower than the nominal DUC (41.19€), which includes DUC initially charged: 37.73€; and DUC to be charged: 3.46€. The difference between these two figures (-0.47€/SU) arising from:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+0.09€/SU);
- the deduction of the adjustment for costs exempt from cost-sharing (-0.46€/SU), to be reimbursed to the airspace users in future years; and
- the deduction of traffic adjustments (-0.09€/SU), for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing to be reimbursed to the airspace users in future years.

The share of the regulatory result in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 8.0%.

Regulatory result (RR)

HCAA (now HASP) net gain on activity in the en route charging zone in the combined year 2020-2021
HCAA’s net gain amounts to +18.9 M€ mainly due to gains of +16.4 M€ from the cost sharing mechanism, and gains of +2.5 M€ from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.
HCAA (now HASP) 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 (+18.9 M€) and the actual RoE (+1.9 M€) amounts to +20.7 M€ (9.3% of the en route revenues).