Capacity - Netherlands

PRB monitoring

▪ The Netherlands registered 0.04 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2022, thus achieving the local target value of 0.14.

▪ The average number of IFR movements was 18% below 2019 levels in the Netherlands in 2022.

▪ A decrease in the number of ATCOs in OPS is planned in Amsterdam ACC by the end of RP3. The actual number decreased in 2022 and was below the 2022 plan.

▪ Delays were highest in May, June and September, mostly driven by ATC Capacity issues.

▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in the Netherlands increased by 5.28 p.p. compared to 2021 and was lower than 2019 values.

▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Amsterdam ACC was 50,686 in 2022, showing a 31.7% increase compared to 2021. Sector opening hours are 1.4% above 2019 levels.

▪ Amsterdam ACC registered 12.84 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2022, being 6.7% below 2019 levels.

En route performance

En route ATFM delay (KPI#1)

Summary of capacity performance

The Netherlands achieved the required en route capacity performance in 2022. There were 1 092k flights handled in the airspace of the Netherlands (both Amsterdam ACC and the DECO sectors in MUAC).

There were 48k minutes of en route ATFM delay attributed to ANSPs in Dutch airspace.

NSA’s assessment of capacity performance

In 2022, the Netherlands did reach the en route capacity target.

Monitoring process for capacity performance

LVNL reports its en-route capacity performance to the states through the MUAC Finance and Performance committee. The performance data is also monitored on a monthly basis through the quarterly performance reports directly to the State. This report is based on LVNL data and available PRU data, which is consolidated and analysed and the results compared to the reference and indicative values.

Capacity planning

The ANSPs in the Netherlands, LVNL and MUAC, contribute to the new NOP planning process, both the long term NOP and the weekly Rolling NOP.

They contribute information and data to the provision for a consolidated European network view of the evolution of the air traffic, enabling the planning of the service delivered to match the expected air traffic demand in a safe, efficient and coordinated manner. However, the 10% capacity buffer requested by the NM, the recommendation for zero delay and the continuous optimistic traffic forecast selected have naturally an adverse impact on ANSPs finance.

Application of Corrective Measures for Capacity (if applicable)

No data available

Additional Information Related to Russia’s War of Aggression Against Ukraine

No data available

Other indicators

Amsterdam ACC: N/A
Maastricht ACC: For MUAC more ATCO than anticipated have stopped working in OPS

Terminal performance

Arrival ATFM delay (KPI#2)

For the Netherlands, the scope of the performance monitoring of terminal services under RP3 comprises a total of 4 airports. In accordance with IR (EU) 2019/317 and the traffic figures at these 4 airports, only Amsterdam must be monitored for pre-departure delays.
The Airport Operator Data Flow is fully established at Amsterdam and the monitoring of pre-departure delays can be performed. Nevertheless, the quality of the reporting does not allow for the calculation of the ATC pre-departure delay, with more than 60% of the reported delay not allocated to any cause.

Traffic at these 4 airports decreased in 2022 was still 17% lower than in 2019 regardless the increase of 49% with respect to 2021.

Average arrival ATFM delays in 2022 was 1.78 min/arr, compared to 0.54 min/arr in 2021.
ATFM slot adherence has deteriorated (2022: 97.7%; 2021: 98.1%).

Amsterdam (EHAM: 2019: 4.23 min/arr.; 2020: 1.41 min/arr.; 2021: 0.60 min/arr.; 2022: 1.98 min/arr.) significantly increased the arrival ATFM delays compared to previous years.
56% of the delays were attributed to Aerodrome Capacity issues, followed by 39% attributed to Weather.
The rest of Dutch airports registered zero or nearly zero arrival ATFM delays in 2022.
The Dutch monitoring report mentions these recommendations: In the long term LVNL is working with AAS, the main Airline Operator at Schiphol, and the slot coordinator to improve the slot allocation, with the aim of reducing bunching for inbound traffic demand since this is one of the major causes of airport delay at Schiphol. Additionally, LVNL has implemented Time-Based Separation to increase the runway capacity of Schiphol, especially during strong winds. This is expected to reduce airport ATFM delays.
As additional measures, the monitoring report adds: In the coming years each year one runway will undergo heavy maintenance, lasting 2-3 months. This reduced runway availability increases the probability that only one landing runway can be used while demand is for two runways.
Concerning remedial actions related to the war in Ukraine, the monitoring report mentions: For MUAC: Re-alignment of the corridors and a better coordination on when to activate and de-activate the corridors were achieved after negotiations.3. Arrival ATFM Delay – National TargetThe national target on arrival ATFM delay in 2022 was met.

All four airports showed adherence above 97% and the national average was 97.7%. With regard to the 2.3% of flights that did not adhere, 0.6% was early and 1.6% was late.

Other terminal performance indicators (PI#1-3)

Airport level
Airport name
Avg arrival ATFM delay (KPI#2)
Slot adherence (PI#1)
ATC pre departure delay (PI#2)
All causes pre departure delay (PI#3)
2020 2021 2022 2023 2020 2021 2022 2023 2020 2021 2022 2023 2020 2021 2022 2023
Beek NA 0.01 0.10 NA 96.0% 97.4% 97.2% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Eelde 0.01 0.00 0.01 NA 88.0% 91.9% 98.1% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Rotterdam NA 0.00 0.00 NA 100.0% 98.8% 98.9% NA% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Schiphol 1.41 0.60 1.98 NA 97.6% 98.1% 97.7% NA% NA NA NA NA 15.5 20.4 27.3 NA

ATFM slot adherence

The share of unidentified delay reported by Amsterdam (the only Dutch airport subject to monitoring of this indicator) in 2022 has been well above 40% every month of the year, preventing the calculation of this indicator.
The insufficient data quality provided by Amsterdam is a long standing issue. The Dutch monitoring report does not mention any special measure to improve the data reporting.

ATC pre-departure delay

Amsterdam is the only Dutch airport subject to the monitoring of this indicator.
The total (all causes) delay in the actual off block time at Amsterdam in 2022 was 27.35 min/dep. which is the second highest among the RP3 monitored airports. The highest delays per flight were observed in June, averaging amore than 35 min/dep.

All causes pre-departure delay

n/a: airport operator data flow not established, or more than two months of missing / non-validated data