PRB monitoring
▪ The en route 2022 actual unit cost of Greece was 23.38 €2017, 16% lower than the determined unit cost (27.86 €2017). The terminal 2022 actual unit cost was 150.36 €2017, 3.4% lower than the determined unit cost (155.70 €2017).
▪ The en route 2022 actual service units (6,416K) were 9.5% higher than the determined service units (5,861K).
▪ The en route 2022 actual total costs were 13 M€2017 lower (-8.1%) than determined, mainly due to lower staff cost (-9.8 M€2017, or -7.8%). The NSA only explained that HCCA is understaffed and that the staff compensation has not been fully implemented yet. Other operating costs also decreased significantly (-3.5 M€2017, or -11%), although no explanation was provided by the NSA.
▪ HASP spent 1.7 M€2017 in 2022 related to costs of investments, 19% less than determined (2.1 M€2017), the NSA noted that it is due to a slight delay in an investment project.
▪ As for the previous monitoring year, the discrepancies regarding cost of investments were significant. The PRB invites the NSA to analyse the discrepancies, identify their reasons, and request 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 28.67€, while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 144.44€.
En route charging zone
Unit cost (KPI#1)
| Actual and determined data |
| Total costs - nominal (M€) |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Actual costs |
257 |
165 |
NA |
NA |
| Determined costs |
277 |
172 |
189 |
204 |
| Difference costs |
−20 |
−8 |
NA |
NA |
| Inflation assumptions |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Determined inflation rate |
NA |
4.5% |
1.3% |
1.6% |
| Determined inflation index |
NA |
106.5 |
107.9 |
109.7 |
| Actual inflation rate |
NA |
9.3% |
NA |
NA |
| Actual inflation index |
NA |
111.4 |
NA |
NA |
| Difference inflation index (p.p.) |
NA |
+4.9 |
NA |
NA |
AUC vs. DUC
In 2022, the en route AUC was -16.1% (or -4.48 €2017) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly higher than planned TSUs (+9.5%) and significantly lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-8.1%, or -13.3 M€2017). It should be noted that actual inflation index in 2022 was +4.9 p.p. higher than planned.
En route service units
The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+9.5%) falls outside the ±2% dead band, but does not exceed 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 main ANSP (HASP) retaining an amount of +5.4 M€2017.
En route costs by entity
Actual real en route costs are -8.1% (-13.3 M€2017) lower than planned. This is the result of lower costs for the main ANSP, HASP (-9.2%, or -12.3 M€2017) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL (-4.8%, or -1.1 M€2017) and higher costs for the MET service provider (+0.7%, or +0.1 M€2017).
En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level
Significantly lower than planned en route costs in real terms for HASP in 2022 (-9.2%, or -12.3 M€2017) result from:
- Significantly lower staff costs in real terms (-8.7%), partially due to the inflation index impact (+4.9 p.p.). No explanation of drivers for the difference between actual and determined staff costs was provided by Greece.
- Significantly lower other operating costs in real terms (-13.6%), partially due to the inflation index impact (+4.9 p.p.). No explanation of drivers for the difference between actual and determined other operating costs was provided by Greece.
- Equal with the plan depreciation and cost of capital.
- Slightly lower deduction for VFR exempted flights (-0.2%).
Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)
| AUCU components (€/SU) – 2022 |
| Components of the AUCU in 2022 |
€/SU |
| DUC |
29.41 |
| Inflation adjustment |
1.06 |
| Cost exempt from cost-sharing |
−0.16 |
| Traffic risk sharing adjustment |
−1.15 |
| Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) |
−0.46 |
| 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 |
−0.72 |
| AUCU |
28.69 |
| AUCU vs. DUC |
−2.4% |
| Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2022 |
€'000 |
€/SU |
| New and existing investments |
−53.1 |
−0.01 |
| Competent authorities and qualified entities costs |
−565.5 |
−0.09 |
| Eurocontrol costs |
−426.1 |
−0.07 |
| 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 |
−1,044.6 |
−0.16 |
The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in 2022 (28.67 €) is -2.5% lower than the nominal DUC (29.41 €). The difference between these two figures (-0.73 €/SU) is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+1.06 €/SU);
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost-sharing mechanism (-0.18 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (-1.15 €/SU); and,
- the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-0.46 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing.
The share of the regulatory result in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 10.8%.
HASP net gain on activity in the Greece en route charging zone in the year 2022
HASP reported a net gain of +19.7 M€, as a combination of a gain of +13.7 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a gain of +6.0 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.
HASP 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 (+19.7 M€) and the actual RoE (+0.2 M€) amounts to +19.8 M€ (12.9% of the en route revenues).
Note 1: Ex-post RoE cannot be correctly calculated due to a very low total asset base, due to: 1) the exclusion of net current assets from the calculation of the total asset base starting from 2021, 2) a very low net book value of fixed assets (as these are nearly fully depreciated).