PRB monitoring
▪ The en route 2022 actual unit cost of Cyprus was 29.97 €2017, 3.1% lower than the determined unit cost (30.92 €2017). Cyprus does not have a terminal charging zone.
▪ The en route 2022 actual service units (1,788K) were 2.7% lower than the determined service units (1,837K).
▪ The en route 2022 actual total costs were 3.2 M€2017 (-5.7%) lower than determined, as all cost categories decreased. It was mainly attributable to lower other operating costs (-1.8 M€2017, or -6.3%) largely due to a delay of a new building.
▪ DCAC Cyprus spent 3.7 M€2017 in 2022 related to costs of investments, 12% less than determined (4.2 M€2017), due to the postponement of payment for investments that have been delayed.
▪ As for the previous monitoring year, the discrepancies regarding costs of investments were significant. The PRB invites the NSA to analyse the discrepancies, identify their reasons, and the Member State to take immediate, adequate, and proportionate action to ensure the implementation of the investment plans to avoid future capacity gaps.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2022 was 33.36€.
En route charging zone
Unit cost (KPI#1)
| Actual and determined data |
| Total costs - nominal (M€) |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Actual costs |
101 |
58 |
NA |
NA |
| Determined costs |
105 |
60 |
67 |
71 |
| Difference costs |
−3 |
−2 |
NA |
NA |
| Inflation assumptions |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Determined inflation rate |
NA |
5.3% |
2.3% |
2.0% |
| Determined inflation index |
NA |
109.1 |
111.6 |
113.9 |
| Actual inflation rate |
NA |
8.1% |
NA |
NA |
| Actual inflation index |
NA |
112 |
NA |
NA |
| Difference inflation index (p.p.) |
NA |
+2.9 |
NA |
NA |
AUC vs. DUC
In 2022, the en route AUC was -3.1% (or -0.95 €2017) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-5.7%, or -3.2 M€2017) and lower than planned TSUs (-2.7%). It should be noted that actual inflation index in 2022 was +2.9 p.p. higher than planned.
En route service units
The difference between actual and planned TSUs (-2.7%) falls outside the ±2% dead band, but does not exceed the ±10% threshold foreseen in the traffic risk sharing mechanism. The resulting loss of en route revenues is therefore shared between the ANSP and the airspace users, with the ANSP (DCAC Cyprus) bearing a loss of -0.8 M€2017).
En route costs by entity
Actual real en route costs are -5.7% (-3.2 M€2017) lower than planned. This is the result of lower costs for the main ANSP, DCAC Cyprus (-6.5%, or -2.5 M€2017), the MET service provider (-15.5%, or -0.6 M€2017) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL (-1.0%, or -0.2 M€2017).
En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level
Significantly lower than planned en route costs in real terms for DCAC Cyprus in 2022 (-6.5%, or -2.5 M€2017) result from:
- Lower staff costs (-2.6%) although in nominal terms there is no difference,
- Significantly lower other operating costs (-9.5%) due to a delay in the operation of the new ACC building in Kokkinotrimithia,
- Lower depreciation (-2.5%) resulting from lower than foreseen actual cost of two investments,
- Significantly lower cost of capital (-23.1%) due to the postponement of pre-payments for investments planned to be implemented later than originally foreseen in the Performance Plan.
Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)
| AUCU components (€/SU) – 2022 |
| Components of the AUCU in 2022 |
€/SU |
| DUC |
32.76 |
| Inflation adjustment |
0.60 |
| Cost exempt from cost-sharing |
−0.38 |
| Traffic risk sharing adjustment |
0.11 |
| Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) |
0.28 |
| 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 |
0.61 |
| AUCU |
33.37 |
| AUCU vs. DUC |
+1.9% |
| Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2022 |
€'000 |
€/SU |
| New and existing investments |
−554.9 |
−0.31 |
| Competent authorities and qualified entities costs |
−187.5 |
−0.10 |
| Eurocontrol costs |
65.2 |
0.04 |
| 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 |
−677.2 |
−0.38 |
The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in 2022 (33.36 €) is +1.8% higher than the nominal DUC (32.76 €). The difference between these two figures (+0.60 €/SU) is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+0.60 €/SU);
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost-sharing mechanism (-0.40 €/SU);
- the addition of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (+0.11 €/SU); and
- the addition of the traffic adjustment (+0.28 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing to be charged in future years.
The share of the regulatory result in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 5.9%.
DCAC Cyprus net gain on activity in the Cyprus en route charging zone in the year 2022
DCAC Cyprus reported a net gain of +1.3 M€, as a combination of a gain of +2.2 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a loss of -0.9 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.
DCAC Cyprus overall regulatory result (RR) for the en route activity
Ex-post, the overall RR taking into account the net gain from the en route activity mentioned above (+1.3 M€) and the actual RoE (+1.5 M€) amounts to +2.8 M€ (6.9% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 9.2%, which is higher than the 5.0% planned in the PP.