Annual Monitoring Report 2022 - Czech Republic
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/772 of 13 April 2022
List of ACCs 1
Prague ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 1
<80’K 0
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 26.3115 CZK
2022: 24.5299 CZK
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2022 1.7%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2022 1.6%
Share en route / terminal costs 2022 87% / 13%
En route charging zone(s)
Czech Republic
Terminal charging zone(s)
Czech Republic
Main ANSP
• ANS CR
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
• CHMI
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Czech Republic recorded 616K actual IFR movements in 2022, +53% compared to 2021 (404K).
▪ Actual 2022 IFR movements were +7.2% above the plan (575K).
▪ Actual 2022 IFR movements represent 71% of the actual 2019 level (867K).
▪ Czech Republic recorded 1,814K actual en route service units in 2022, +42% compared to 2021 (1,280K).
▪ Actual 2022 service units were -1.4% below the plan (1,841K).
▪ Actual 2022 service units represent 62% of the actual 2019 level (2,068K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ ANS CR has already exceeded the RP3 EoSM targets in 2020. ANS CR undertook further actions to enhance its SMS function and to align it to Regulation (EU) 2017/373.
▪ Despite the traffic increase, the rate of runway incursions at the Prague airport (LKPR) was maintained. The rate of separation minima infringements marginally decreased in 2022. The NSA closely monitors the rate of occurrences and assesses the effectiveness of implemented measures through regular meetings of the Safety Board.
▪ ANS CR used the automated safety data recording systems for SMIs and RIs and was one of the few ANSPs that did so.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Czech Republic achieved a KEA performance of 2.55% compared to its target of 2.05% and did not contribute positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ The NSA states the main reason for not meeting the target is the severe impact of flight trajectories due to the Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
▪ Both KEP and SCR deteriorated in comparison with 2021. The value of these two indicators is similar, meaning airspace users plan close to the shortest route available.
▪ The share of CDO flights decreased by 11.58% compared to 2021.
▪ During 2022, additional time in terminal airspace increased from 0.50 to 0.69 min/flight, while additional taxi out time increased from 1.76 to 1.90 min/flight.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Czech Republic registered 1.50 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2022 which has been adjusted to 1.45 during the post-ops adjustment process.
▪ Average en route ATFM delay per flight was further adjusted to 1.33 minutes per flight due to the exceptional event related to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, still not achieving the local target value of 0.11. The discussion between the PRB and the Czech NSA regarding the adjustments due to the exceptional event related to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is still ongoing at the time of the publication of this report.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 29% below 2019 levels in Czech Republic in 2022.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is planned to increase by 38% in Prague ACC by the end of RP3. The actual values remained 5% below the planned level in 2022, which is mainly caused by decelerated training due to the COVID impact.
▪ The system implementation at Prague ACC during 2022 combined with the impact of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine had a detrimental effect on capacity performance in Czech Republic.
▪ Delays were highest between June and October, mostly driven by other reasons (system implementation).
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in the Czech Republic increased by 19.41 p.p. compared to 2021 and was higher than 2019 values.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Prague ACC was 41,001 in 2022, showing a 58.7% increase compared to 2021. Sector opening hours are 12.5% below 2019 levels.
▪ Prague ACC registered 12.99 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2022, being 26.9% below 2019 levels.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2022 actual unit cost of Czech Republic was 51.91 €2017, 12% lower than the determined unit cost (59.18 €2017).1 The terminal 2022 actual unit cost was 244.16 €2017, 6.8% lower than the determined unit cost (261.84 €2017).
▪ The en route 2022 actual service units (1,814K) were 1.4% lower than the determined service units (1,841K).
▪ The en route 2022 actual total costs were 15 M€2017 (-14%) lower than determined. All cost categories decreased except cost of capital. The decrease was mainly a result of lower staff costs (-11 M€2017, or -20%), due to a new collective agreement and lower FTEs than expected.
▪ ANS CR spent 30 M€2017 in 2022 related to costs of investments, 4.6% less than planned (32 M€2017), primarily due to changed timelines in some investment projects.
▪ Czech Republic presented a deviation from the criteria to achieve capacity targets, which was considered justified. Considering that costs are significantly lower and that the 2022 en route capacity targets have not been achieved, the situation raises serious concern. The PRB invites the NSA to analyse the discrepancies and identify their reasons and the Member State to rectify the situation to ensure that the additional means granted through the capacity deviation are used to address the capacity issues.
The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2022 was 73.65€, while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 322.31€.2