PRB monitoring
▪ Switzerland registered 0.08 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2021, thus meeting the local breakdown value of 0.12. Geneva ACC accumulated 0.03 minutes of en route delay which was below the ACC reference value of 0.10 and Zurich ACC accumulated 0.09 minutes of delay which was also below the ACC reference value of 0.10.
▪ Delays should be considered in the context of lower traffic: in Switzerland, IFR movements in 2021 were 47% lower than in 2019.
▪ Traffic is expected to grow, with 2019 levels likely being reached in 2023 in high growth scenario or 2024 in the base growth sce-nario. The number of ATCOs in OPS is planned to be reduced slightly in both ACCs during RP3.
▪ Delays were highest in February and March and between June and October, mostly due to ATC Capacity issues and adverse weather conditions.
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Switzerland decreased by 2.5 p.p. compared to 2020 and was lower than 2019 values.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Geneva ACC was 22,971, showing an 8.9% increase compared to 2020. Sector opening hours are 28.9% below 2019 levels. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Zurich ACC was 23,041, showing an 8.8% increase compared to 2020. Sector opening hours are 35.1% below 2019 levels.
▪ Geneva ACC registered 15.43 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 26.8% below 2019 levels. Zurich ACC registered 18.65 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2021, being 19.5% below 2019 levels.
Summary of capacity performance
NSA’s assessment of capacity performance
Monitoring process for capacity performance
Capacity planning
Application of Corrective Measures for Capacity (if applicable)
Switzerland identifies its two main airports Zurich (LSZH) and Geneva (LSGG) as subject to RP3 monitoring. Both airports have a fully implemented data flow that allows the proper monitoring of the pre-departure delays. Nevertheless, the quality of the reporting does not allow for the calculation of the ATC pre-departure delay at Geneva, with more than 60% of the reported delay not allocated to any cause.
Traffic in 2021 at these two airports was still 52% lower than in 2019,but recovered 18% with respect to 2020.
During 2021, arrival ATFM delays in Switzerland have decreased with respect to the previous year (2020: 0.55 min/arr, 2021: 0.37 min/arr)
ATFM slot adherence has slightly improved (2021: 94.8%; 2020: 94.6%).
ATFM delays at both Swiss airports further decreased in 2021 and concentrated mostly in the second half of the year.
At Zurich (LSZH: 2019: 1.99 min/arr.; 2020: 0.60 min/arr.; 2021: 0.51 min/arr.) 73% of these delays were attributed to weather and 13% to aerodrome capacity issues.
At Geneva (LSGG: 2019: 1.04 min/arr.; 2020: 0.49 min/arr.; 2021: 0.19 min/arr.) 30% of the delays were attributed to weather, 29% to ATC staffing issues, 22% to ATC capacity and another 15% to aerodrome capacity.
The provisional national target on arrival ATFM delay in 2021 was met.
In accordance with Article 3 (3) (a) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1627: The incentive scheme shall cover only the calendar years 2022 to 2024. No bonus will be awarded to skyguide for 2021 achievement.
| Airport level |
| Airport name |
Avg arrival
ATFM delay (KPI#2)
|
Slot adherence (PI#1)
|
ATC pre departure
delay (PI#2)
|
All causes pre departure
delay (PI#3)
|
| 2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
| Geneva |
0.49 |
0.19 |
NA |
NA |
94.7% |
93.1% |
NA% |
NA% |
0.24 |
0.13 |
NA |
NA |
8.5 |
9.0 |
NA |
NA |
| Zurich |
0.60 |
0.51 |
NA |
NA |
94.4% |
96.0% |
NA% |
NA% |
0.48 |
0.39 |
NA |
NA |
7.5 |
9.7 |
NA |
NA |
ATFM slot adherence
With the drastic drop in traffic, the share of regulated departures from Zurich and Geneva virtually disappeared until July 2021.
These airports showed adherence above 93% and the national average was 94.8%, similar to the performance in 2020 (94.6%). With regard to the 5.2% of flights that did not adhere, 4% was early and 1.2% was late.
ATC pre-departure delay
Zurich is the only Swiss airport where this indicator can be calculated. The performance has further improved (LSZH; 2019: 1.63 min/dep.; 2020: 0.52 min/dep.; 2021: 0.39 min/dep.) and even if it increased in the second half of 2021, it was still much lower than the 2019 values.
The share of unidentified delay reported by Geneva in 2020 was above 40% every month between April 2020 and July 2021, preventing the calculation of this indicator, due to the special traffic composition. Geneva had proper reporting before the pandemic and it has improved with the traffic recovery.
All causes pre-departure delay
The total (all causes) delay in the actual off block time at both Geneva and Zurich increased in 2021 (LSZH: 2020: 7.55 min/dep.; 2021: 9.66 min/dep.; LSGG: 2020: 8.46 min/dep.; 2021: 9.03 min/dep.). The highest delays per flight at these airports were observed in Summer and increased again at some airports at towards the end of the year.