PRB monitoring
▪ The en route 2020/2021 actual unit cost of Malta was 43.63 €2017, slightly lower (-1.0%) than the determined unit cost (44.08 €2017). The terminal actual unit cost was 275.44 €2017, -8.4% lower than the determined unit cost (300.69 €2017).
▪ The en route 2021 actual service units (504K) were -4.6% lower than determined (528K).
▪ In 2021, actual total costs of Malta were -1.5 M€2017 (-6.9%) lower compared to determined. The reduction was mainly driven by -0.5 M€2017 lower other operating costs (-6.8%), and -0.8 M€2017 lower depreciation costs (-31%). The NSA did not provide explanations for the variations of costs.
▪ MATS spent 2.8 M€2017 in 2021 related to costs of investments, significatively lower (-28%) than determined (3.9 M€2017), due to both a reduction on depreciation and cost of capital.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2020/2021 was 44.79€, while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 305.05€.
En route charging zone
| Actual and determined data |
| Total costs - nominal (M€) |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Actual costs |
40 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Determined costs |
42 |
24 |
24 |
26 |
| Difference costs |
-2 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Inflation assumptions |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Determined inflation rate |
NA |
4.7% |
2.8% |
2.1% |
| Determined inflation index |
NA |
109.7 |
112.8 |
115.1 |
| 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 (-1.0%, or -0.44€). This results from the combination of lower than planned TSUs (-2.6%) and lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-3.6%, or -1.5 M€2017).
En route service units
The difference between actual and planned TSUs (-2.6%) falls outside of the ±2% dead band. Hence, the resulting loss is shared between the ANSP and airspace users, with the ANSP bearing a loss of -0.8 M€.
En route costs by entity
Actual real en route costs for 2020-2021 are -3.6% (-1.5 M€2017) lower than planned. This reflects the lower than planned costs for all the entities in the charging zone: main ANSP - MATS (-4.2%, or -1.5 M€2017) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL (-0.2%).
En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level
The lower than planed en route costs in real terms for MATS in 2020-2021 reflects a combination of:
- slightly higher staff costs (+0.1%);
- lower other operating costs (-4.3%);
- significantly lower depreciation costs (-16.3%); and,
- much lower cost of capital (-15.1%), reflecting lower than planned asset base.
Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)
| AUCU components (€/SU) – 2020-2021 |
| Components of the AUCU in 2020-2021 |
€/SU |
| DUC |
45.45 |
| Inflation adjustment |
0.00 |
| Cost exempt from cost-sharing |
-1.24 |
| Traffic risk sharing adjustment |
0.17 |
| Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) |
0.21 |
| 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 |
-0.85 |
| AUCU |
44.59 |
| AUCU vs. DUC |
-1.9% |
| Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2020-2021 |
€'000 |
€/SU |
| New and existing investments |
-1,023.0 |
-1.14 |
| Competent authorities and qualified entities costs |
-10.0 |
-0.01 |
| Eurocontrol costs |
-81.0 |
-0.09 |
| 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 |
-1,114.0 |
-1.24 |
The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in combined year 2020-2021 (44.79€) is -1.5% lower than the nominal DUC (45.45€) which includes DUC initially charged: 27.81€; and to be charged: 17.64€. The difference between these two figures is due to:
- the addition resulting from the traffic risk sharing adjustment (+0.17€/SU) and the traffic adjustment (+0.21€/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing to be charged in future years; and,
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost-sharing mechanism (-1.04€/SU).
The share of regulatory result in the AUCU is 1.5%.
MATS net loss on en route activity in the Maltese charging zone in the combined year 2020-2021
MATS’s net loss amounts to -0.2 M€, as a combination of a gain of +0.6 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism and a loss of -0.8 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.
MATS overall regulatory results (RR) for the en route activity
Ex-post, the overall RR taking into account the net loss from the en route activity mentioned above (-0.2 M€) and the actual RoE (+0.8 M€) amounts to +0.6 M€ (1.8% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 3.4%, which is lower than the 4.4% planned in the PP.