Cost-efficiency - Portugal
PRB monitoring
▪ The en route 2020/2021 actual unit cost of Portugal was 64.95 €2017, -1.3% lower than the determined unit cost (65.82 €2017). The terminal 2020/2021 actual unit cost was 240.11 €2017, in line with the determined unit cost (240.39 €2017).
▪ The en route 2021 actual service units (1,988K) were +3.3% higher than determined (1,925K).
▪ In 2021, Portugal increased total costs by +1.1 M€2017 (+0.9%) compared to determined costs. The increase was driven by an increase of +7.0% in staff costs (+5.4 M€2017) due to an increase in pension fund costs, contingent liabilities, and non-materialised capitalised work.
▪ All the other cost categories decreased compared to determined. Cost of capital decreased by -34% (-1.1 M€2017) due to a postponement in the implementation of the new ATM System.
▪ NAV Portugal spent 13 M€2017 in 2021 related to costs of investments, -3.0% less than determined (14 M€2017), due to a postponement in the implementation of the new ATM System (TOPLIS – TOPSKY) as requested by the Network Manager in order to avoid simultaneous transitions of ATM systems with the Reims and Marseille ACCs (also planned for the beginning of 2022).
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2020/2021 was 66.27€, while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 246.22€.
En route charging zone
| Actual and determined data |
| Total costs - nominal (M€) |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Actual costs |
234 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Determined costs |
233 |
139 |
150 |
155 |
| Difference costs |
1 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Inflation assumptions |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Determined inflation rate |
NA |
1.2% |
1.3% |
1.4% |
| Determined inflation index |
NA |
103.6 |
104.9 |
106.4 |
| 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 en route AUC was -1.3% (or -0.87€2017) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of higher than planned TSUs (+1.8%) and higher than planned en-route costs in real terms but in a lesser proportion (+0.5%, or +1.1 M€2017).
En route service units
The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+1.8%) falls within the ±2% dead band. Hence the resulting additional en-route revenue is kept by the ANSPs.
En route costs by entity
Actual real en route costs are +-0.5% (+1.1 M€2017) higher than planned. This is driven by the main ANSP, NAV Portugal (+0.9%, or +1.7 M€2017), while the costs of the SAR provider and the MET provider are in line with the plan (+0.1% and -0.03%, respectively) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL costs are lower than planned (-3.4%, or -0.6 M€2017).
En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level
The higher than planned en route costs in real terms for NAV Portugal (+0.9%, or +1.7 M€2017) result from:
- higher staff costs (+3.6% for the period 2020-2021), “mainly due to the following factors: i) Higher pension fund costs, namely in NAV/CTA-MT; ii) Contingent liabilities arising from specific situations in which ATCOs do not meet the requirements for access to retirement status;iii) Capitalized work that did not materialize at the same level as planned;”
- lower other operating costs (-12.3%), mainly explained by lower spending on IT assistance and other outsourced services, repair and maintenance, communication and travel;”
- slightly higher depreciation (+0.8%); and
- lower cost of capital (-21.5%), due to a slight delay in implementation of the new ATM System.
Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)
| AUCU components (€/SU) – 2020-2021 |
| Components of the AUCU in 2020-2021 |
€/SU |
| DUC |
66.88 |
| Inflation adjustment |
0.00 |
| Cost exempt from cost-sharing |
-0.50 |
| Traffic risk sharing adjustment |
0.00 |
| Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) |
-0.16 |
| 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 |
-0.65 |
| AUCU |
66.22 |
| AUCU vs. DUC |
-1.0% |
| Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2020-2021 |
€'000 |
€/SU |
| New and existing investments |
-1,149.7 |
-0.32 |
| Competent authorities and qualified entities costs |
-38.0 |
-0.01 |
| Eurocontrol costs |
-580.9 |
-0.16 |
| 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 |
-1,768.5 |
-0.50 |
The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in combined year 2020-2021 (66.27€) is -0.9% lower than the nominal DUC (66.88€) which includes DUC initially charged: 40.19€; and to be charged: 26.69€. The difference between these two figures (-0.61€/SU) is due to:
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempt from cost-sharing mechanism (-0.45€/SU); and
- the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-0.16€/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing to be reimbursed in future years.
It should be noted that Portugal decided not to charge the inflation adjustment for 2020-2021 to airspace users.
The share of regulatory result in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 2.1%.
NAV Portugal net gain on activity in Portugal Continental en route charging zone in the combined year 2020-2021
NAV Portugal generated a net gain of +0.7 M€, resulting from a loss of -2.8 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism and a gain of +3.5 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.
NAV Portugal overall regulatory results (RR) for the en route activity
Ex-post, the overall RR corresponding to the net gain from the en route activity mentioned above (+0.7 M€) and the RoE (+3.7 M€) amounts to +4.4 M€ (2.2% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 7.2%, which is higher than the 6.0% planned in the PP.