Cost-efficiency - France

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PRB monitoring

▪ The en route 2022 actual unit cost of France was 65.36 €2017, 14% lower than the determined unit cost (76.14 €2017). The terminal zone 1 2022 actual unit cost was 93.63 €2017, 18% lower than the determined unit cost (114.46 €2017), while the terminal zone 2 2022 actual unit cost was 382.46 €2017, 7.8% higher than the determined unit cost (354.93 €2017).

▪ The en route 2022 actual service units (18,898K) were 11% higher than the determined service units (16,990K).

▪ In 2022, the en route actual total costs were 59 M€2017 lower (-4.5%) than determined, mainly due to a reduction in staff cost (-35 M€2017, or -4.8%), as a result of higher inflation than planned, and lower depreciation cost (-24 M€2017, or -15%), mainly due to postponement of investments.

▪ DSNA spent 202 M€2017 in 2022 related to costs of investments, 8.3% lower than determined (221 M€2017) mainly due to the postponement of investments and some investment costs that have been transferred to OPEX costs.

▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2022 was 77.04€, while the terminal zone 1 actual unit cost incurred by users was 191.48€ and 271.69€ for terminal zone 2.

En route charging zone

Unit cost (KPI#1)

Actual and determined data
Total costs - nominal (M€) 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Actual costs 2,650 1,355 NA NA
Determined costs 2,668 1,357 1,382 1,407
Difference costs −18 −1 NA NA
Inflation assumptions 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Determined inflation rate NA 1.2% 1.3% 1.4%
Determined inflation index NA 106.3 107.7 109.3
Actual inflation rate NA 5.9% NA NA
Actual inflation index NA 112.4 NA NA
Difference inflation index (p.p.) NA +6.1 NA NA

AUC vs. DUC

In 2022, the en route AUC was -14.2% (or -10.78 €2017) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly higher than planned TSUs (+11.2%) and lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-4.5%, or -58.5 M€2017). It should be noted that the actual inflation index in 2022 was +6.1 p.p. higher than planned.

En route service units

The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+11.2%) falls outside the ±10% threshold foreseen in the traffic risk sharing mechanism. The resulting gain of additional en route revenues is therefore shared between the ANSP and the airspace users, with the ANSP (DSNA) retaining an amount of +47.1 M€2017.

En route costs by entity

Actual real en route costs are -4.5% (-58.5 M€2017) lower than planned. This is the result of lower than planned costs for the main ANSP, DSNA (-5.2%, or -59.0 M€2017) and the MET service provider (-2.9%, or -1.9 M€2017) and higher than planned costs for the NSA/EUROCONTROL (+2.8%, or +2.4 M€2017).

En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level

Significantly lower than planned en route costs in real terms for DSNA in 2022 (-5.2%, or -59.0 M€2017) result mainly from a higher than planned inflation:
- Lower than planned staff costs (-4.6%) mainly due to the inflation index impact (+6.1 p.p.) since in nominal terms the costs are in line with the planned (+0.9%).
- Lower than planned other operating costs (-2.2%) in real terms but higher in nominal terms (+3.5%) reported to be mainly due to the increase in energy prices,
- Significantly lower than planned depreciation costs (-17.0%), “mainly in relation with the postponement of commissioning from 2022 to 2023, late commissioning in 2022 of the operations of 2021 and the transfer of part of the investment costs to project-related OPEX costs” as reported in the additional information to the June 2023 reporting tables,
- Higher than planned cost of capital (+4.6%), mainly due to a higher than planned asset base and higher average interest on debt,
- Significantly lower than planned deduction for VFR exempted flights (-12.8%).
Note: It is understood that DSNA operating costs include costs of investments that are not capitalised (T3 TECH).

Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)

AUCU components (€/SU) – 2022
Components of the AUCU in 2022 €/SU
DUC 79.85
Inflation adjustment 3.23
Cost exempt from cost-sharing −0.43
Traffic risk sharing adjustment −4.35
Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) −0.91
Finantial incentives 0.00
Modulation of charges 0.00
Cross-financing 0.00
Other revenues −0.34
Application of lower unit rate 0.00
Total adjustments −2.80
AUCU 77.04
AUCU vs. DUC −3.5%
Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2022 €'000 €/SU
New and existing investments −11,550.0 −0.61
Competent authorities and qualified entities costs −665.0 −0.04
Eurocontrol costs 4,057.5 0.21
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 −8,157.5 −0.43

The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in 2022 (77.04 €) is -3.5% lower than the nominal DUC (79.85 €). The difference between these two figures (-2.81 €/SU) is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+3.23 €/SU);
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost-sharing mechanism (-0.44 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (-4.35 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-0.91 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing to be reimbursed in future years; and
- the deduction of the other revenues (-0.34 €/SU).
The share of regulatory result in the AUCU (befored the deduction of other revenues) is 9.8%.

Regulatory result (RR)

DSNA net gain on activity in the France en route charging zone in the year 2022

DSNA reported a net gain of +105.1 M€, as a combination of a gain of +52.1 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a gain of +53.0 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.

DSNA 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 (+105.1 M€) and the actual RoE (+35.1 M€) amounts to +140.2 M€ (10.8% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 64.8%, which is higher than the 16.2% planned in the PP.