Cost-efficiency - Belgium
PRB monitoring
▪ The en route 2022 actual unit cost of Belgium-Luxembourg was 98.91 €2017, 5.3% lower than the determined unit cost (104.47 €2017).
▪ The terminal actual unit cost of Belgium was 243.16 €2017, 3.6% lower than the determined unit cost (252.17 €2017).
▪ The en route 2022 actual service units (2,096K) were in line with the determined service units (2,108K).
▪ The en route 2022 actual total costs were 13 M€2017 (-5.8%) lower compared to the determined, as all cost categories decreased.
▪ The decrease was mainly attributable to lower staff cost (-6.3 M€2017, or -4.0%) and other operating costs (-5.9 M€2017, or -12%). The reduced staff cost was due to lower staff costs in MUAC. The NSA explained that the lower other operating costs is a consequence of delayed investments.
▪ Skeyes spent 12.7 M€2017 in 2022 related to costs of investments, 2.5% less than determined (13.0 M€2017), due to some projects that have been delayed.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users of Belgium-Luxembourg in 2022 was 119.54€, while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 236.58€ for Belgium and 243.25€ for Luxembourg.
En route charging zone
Unit cost (KPI#1)
| Actual and determined data |
| Total costs - nominal (M€) |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Actual costs |
432 |
240 |
NA |
NA |
| Determined costs |
442 |
250 |
262 |
252 |
| Difference costs |
−10 |
−10 |
NA |
NA |
| Inflation assumptions |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Determined inflation rate |
NA |
7.8% |
4.7% |
2.1% |
| Determined inflation index |
NA |
115.6 |
123.9 |
126.5 |
| Actual inflation rate |
NA |
10.3% |
NA |
NA |
| Actual inflation index |
NA |
118.3 |
NA |
NA |
| Difference inflation index (p.p.) |
NA |
+2.7 |
NA |
NA |
AUC vs. DUC
In 2022, the en route AUC was -5.3% (or -5.56 €2017) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-5.8%, or -12.8 M€2017) and slightly lower than planned TSUs (-0.5%). It should be noted that actual inflation index in 2022 was +2.7 p.p. higher than planned.
En route service units
The difference between actual and planned TSUs (-0.5%) falls inside the ±2% dead band. Hence loss of en route revenues is borne by the ANSPs .
En route costs by entity
Actual real en route costs are -5.8% (-12.8 M€2017) lower than planned. This is the result of lower costs for the other ANSPs (ANA and MUAC, -12.5%, or -10.0 M€2017) and the main ANSP, skeyes (-2.4%, or -3.0 M€2017), while the NSA/EUROCONTROL costs are higher (+1.1%, or +0.2 M€2017) than planned.
En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level
Lower than planned en route costs in real terms for skeyes in 2022 (-2.4%, or -3.0 M€2017) result from:
- Slightly higher staff costs (+0.4%) in real terms, but in nominal terms the staff costs are higher than planned (+2.7%) mainly due to the Belgium automatic mandatory salary indexation of salaries based on the actual inflation (10.3%) which was higher that the planned (7.8%);
- Significantly lower other operating costs (-13.7%), due to delay of certain projects, which has negatively impacted the involvement of external support and license costs.
- Slightly higher depreciation (+0.4%),
- Significantly lower cost of capital (-21.6%), mainly due to a lower fixed asset base.
Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)
| AUCU components (€/SU) – 2022 |
| Components of the AUCU in 2022 |
€/SU |
| DUC |
118.72 |
| Inflation adjustment |
2.46 |
| Cost exempt from cost-sharing |
−0.20 |
| Traffic risk sharing adjustment |
0.00 |
| Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) |
0.06 |
| Finantial incentives |
0.00 |
| Modulation of charges |
0.00 |
| Cross-financing |
0.00 |
| Other revenues |
−1.42 |
| Application of lower unit rate |
0.00 |
| Total adjustments |
0.90 |
| AUCU |
119.63 |
| AUCU vs. DUC |
+0.8% |
| Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2022 |
€'000 |
€/SU |
| New and existing investments |
−729.9 |
−0.35 |
| Competent authorities and qualified entities costs |
−27.4 |
−0.01 |
| Eurocontrol costs |
376.2 |
0.18 |
| Pension costs |
−30.3 |
−0.01 |
| Interest on loans |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Changes in law |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing |
−411.4 |
−0.20 |
The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in 2022 (119.54 €) is +0.7% higher than the nominal DUC (118.72 €). The difference between these two figures (+0.82 €/SU) is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+2.46 €/SU);
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost-sharing mechanism (-0.28 €/SU);
- the addition of the traffic adjustment (+0.06 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing; and
- the deduction of the other revenues (-1.42 €/SU).
The share of the regulatory result in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 5.7%.
skeyes net gain on activity in the Belgium-Luxembourg en route charging zone in the year 2022
skeyes reported a net gain of +2.5 M€, as a combination of a gain of +3.3 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a loss of -0.7 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.
skeyes 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 (+2.5 M€) and the actual RoE (+1.1 M€) amounts to +3.6 M€ (2.5% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 8.4%, which is higher than the 2.5% planned in the PP.