Cost-efficiency - Romania

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PRB monitoring

▪ The en route 2022 actual unit cost of Romania was 38.10 €2017, 3.1% lower than the determined unit cost (39.32 €2017).5 The terminal 2022 actual unit cost was 287.04 €2017, 11% higher than the determined unit cost (257.81 €2017).

▪ The en route 2022 actual service units (4,770K) were 4.1% higher than the determined service units (4,583K).

▪ The en route 2022 actual total costs were 1.6 M€2017 (+0.9%) higher than determined. The increase in staff costs (+5.1 M€2017, or +3.8%) compared to determined was partially offset by decreases in other operating costs and cost of capital. Staff costs increased mainly due to an increase in pension cost and inflation compensation.

▪ ROMATSA spent 17.9 M€2017 in 2022 related to costs of investments, 1.7% less than planned (18.2 M€2017), due to delays of nine investments as result of delays in procurement procedures.

▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2022 was 45.42€, while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 316.41€.

En route charging zone

Unit cost (KPI#1)

Actual and determined data
Total costs - nominal (M€) 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Actual costs 373 227 NA NA
Determined costs 370 219 249 265
Difference costs 2 8 NA NA
Inflation assumptions 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Determined inflation rate NA 9.3% 4.0% 3.0%
Determined inflation index NA 125.9 130.9 134.8
Actual inflation rate NA 12.0% NA NA
Actual inflation index NA 129 NA NA
Difference inflation index (p.p.) NA +3.1 NA NA

AUC vs. DUC

In 2022, the en route AUC was -3.1% (or -5.54 RON2017, -1.21 €2017) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of higher than planned TSUs (+4.1%) and slightly higher than planned en route costs in real terms (+0.9%, or +7.2 MRON2017, +1.6 M€2017). It should be noted that the actual inflation index in 2022 was +3.1 p.p. higher than planned.

En route service units

The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+4.1%) 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 ANSP (ROMATSA) retaining an amount of +4.0 M€2017.

En route costs by entity

The 2022 actual real en route costs are +0.9% (+1.6 M€2017) higher than planned. This is the result of higher than planned costs for the main ANSP, ROMATSA (+1.5%, or +2.5 M€2017) and lower than planned costs for the NSA/EUROCONTROL (-7.3%, or -0.9 M€2017).

En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level

Higher than planned en route costs in real terms for ROMATSA in 2022 (+1.5%, or +2.5 M€2017) result from:
- Higher than planned staff costs (+4.3%, or +5.7 M€2017)), mainly due to higher than planned pension costs (+38.6% in nominal terms), compensation for inflation, 24 additional ATCOs in OPS to anticipate forthcoming retirements and “non-recurring amounts for the higher than planned traffic” ;
- Significantly lower than planned other operating costs (-14.3%, or -2.5 M€2017) reported to be mainly due to delays in procurement procedures;
- Slightly higher than planned depreciation costs (+0.4%) reported to be due to investment put into operation earlier than planned;
- Significantly lower than planned cost of capital (-8.7%, or -0.7 M€2017)) reported to be due to delayed investments and procurement procedures and partially offset by increasing interest rate. The total asset base is also lower than planned (-11.3% in nominal terms).
Note: It is understood that the relevant figures for 2022 will be slightly updated in the Monitoring Report 2023 following the correction of 2022 actual costs in the November 2023 reporting tables.

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

AUCU components (€/SU) – 2022
Components of the AUCU in 2022 €/SU
DUC 44.27
Inflation adjustment 0.91
Cost exempt from cost-sharing 1.09
Traffic risk sharing adjustment −0.56
Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) −0.18
Finantial incentives 0.00
Modulation of charges 0.00
Cross-financing 0.00
Other revenues −0.18
Application of lower unit rate 0.00
Total adjustments 1.09
AUCU 45.36
AUCU vs. DUC +2.5%
Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2022 €'000 €/SU
New and existing investments −209.6 −0.04
Competent authorities and qualified entities costs −616.1 −0.13
Eurocontrol costs −81.0 −0.02
Pension costs 6,101.9 1.28
Interest on loans 27.2 0.01
Changes in law 0.0 0.00
Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing 5,222.4 1.09

The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in 2022 (223.83 RON or 45.42 €) is +2.6% higher than the nominal DUC (218.16 RON or 44.27 €). The difference between these two figures (+5.67 RON/SU or +1.15 €/SU) is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+4.51 RON/SU or +0.91 €/SU);
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost-sharing mechanism (+5.69 RON/SU or +1.16 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (-2.75 RON/SU or -0.56 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-0.88 RON/SU or -0.18 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing; and
- the deduction of the other revenues (-0.91 RON/SU or -0.18 €/SU).
The share of the regulatory result in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 5.7%.

Regulatory result (RR)

ROMATSA net gain on activity in the Romania en route charging zone in the year 2022

ROMATSA reported a net gain of +39.4 MRON, as a combination of a gain of +15.8 MRON arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a gain of +23.6 MRON arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.

ROMATSA 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 (+39.4 MRON) and the actual RoE (+21.4 MRON) amounts to +60.7 MRON (5.9% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 22.1%, which is higher than the 7.8% planned in the PP.