Annual Monitoring Report 2023 - Estonia
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/771 of 13 April 2022
List of ACCs 1
Tallinn ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 0
<80’K 2
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1 EUR
2023: 1 EUR
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2023 0.4%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2023 0.4%
Share en route / terminal costs 2023 89% / 11%
En route charging zone(s)
Estonia
Terminal charging zone(s)
Estonia
Main ANSP
• EANS
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
–
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Estonia recorded 149K actual IFR movements in 2023, +5% compared to 2022 (143K).
▪ Actual 2023 IFR movements were -29% below the plan (211K).
▪ Actual 2023 IFR movements represent 65% of the actual 2019 level (229K).
▪ Estonia recorded 446K actual en route service units in 2023, +4% compared to 2022 (429K).
▪ Actual 2023 service units were -48% below the plan (865K).
▪ Actual 2023 service units represent 50% of the actual 2019 level (901K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ Estonia already achieved the RP3 target levels at the start of the reference period but continued to improve its performance continuously. Estonia maintained the maximum maturity level for all five management objectives in 2023.
▪ Estonia recorded a significantly higher rate separation minima infringements (SMI) and the lower rate of runway incursions in 2023 relative to 2022. The NSA closely monitored the rate of occurrences and assessed the effectiveness of implemented measures.
▪ EANS does not use automated safety data recording systems.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Estonia achieved a KEA performance of 6.55% compared to its target of 1.22% and did not contribute positively to achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ The NSA states that the target was not achieved because of the traffic to and from Kaliningrad which does not follow the optimal routes due to the restrictive measures following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
▪ Both KEP and SCR deteriorated in comparison to 2022. The value of these two indicators is similar, meaning airspace users plan close to the shortest route available.
▪ The share of CDO flights decreased from 66.29% to 65.15% in 2023.
▪ During 2023, additional time in terminal airspace increased from 0.19 to 0.23 min/flight, while additional taxi out time decreased from 1.39 to 1.01 min/flight.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Estonia registered zero minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2023, thus achieving the local target value of 0.03. Delays in Estonia remained 0.00 minutes in 2023 compared to the previous year.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 35% below 2019 levels in Estonia in 2023.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is expected to decrease by 10% by 2024, with the actual value being below the 2023 plan in Tallinn by 6 FTEs.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Tallinn ACC was 10,212, showing a 0.9% increase compared to 2022. Sector opening hours are 19.6% below 2019 levels.
▪ Tallinn ACC registered 13.64 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2023, being 21.7% below 2019 levels.
▪ Estonia registered an average airport arrival ATFM delay of zero minutes per flight in 2023, achieving the local target of zero minutes.
▪ Compared to 2022, the number of IFR arrivals in Estonia decreased by 1%, while the average airport arrival ATFM delay remained zero minutes.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2023 actual unit cost of Estonia was 48.69 €2017, +59% higher than the determined unit cost (30.57 €2017). The terminal 2023 actual unit cost was 155.89 €2017, +24% higher than the determined unit cost (125.37 €2017).
▪ The en route 2023 actual service units (0.4M) were -48% lower than the determined service units (0.9K) mainly due to shifted traffic flows caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
▪ In 2023, the en route actual total costs were -4.7 M€2017 (-18%) lower than determined. The main contributor was the difference in staff costs (-2.3 M€2017, or -17%). However, in nominal terms, the actual staff costs show a slight gap of +1.6% compared to the determined figures.
▪ EANS spent 3.7 M€2017 in 2023 related to costs of investments for both en route and terminal charging zones, which is -28% less than determined. This reduction was largely due to a gap in depreciation costs (-1.2 M€2017, -32%) stemming from delays in the implementation dates of investments.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2023 was 70.08€ (+114% above the 2023 DUC), while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 135.95€ (+1.0% above the 2023 DUC). The difference between the AUCU and the DUC for the en route charging zone is primarily attributed to lower than planned SUs, while for the terminal charging zone, it is mainly due to the inflation adjustment (+0.4 M€).
▪ The en route regulatory result for EANS amounted to +5.2 M€, or 22% of the 2023 revenue. This may indicate that the airspace users are charged for costs which have not materialised in 2023.
▪ The PRB will take into consideration the implementation of the RP3 performance plan when assessing the RP4 cost-efficiency targets.