Capacity - Estonia

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PRB monitoring

▪ 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.

En route performance

En route ATFM delay (KPI#1)

Summary of capacity performance

Estonia experienced an increase in traffic from 142k flights in 2022, to 148k flights in 2023 with zero ATFM delay. Traffic levels remain significantly below the 227k flights handled in 2019.

NSA’s assessment of capacity performance

In operational context, in 2023 we faced significant challenges and modest recovery across different quarters. The year was largely impacted by the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine, comparable in its effects to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Estonian airspace continues to be impacted by sanctions and the resulting decrease in air traffic between Europe and Asia.
In 2023, Estonia experienced a slight increase in flights compared to the previous year but still faced significant decrease compared to 2019.

The en route capacity targets of Estonia, measured in minutes of ATFM delay per flight for 2023, was set at 0.03 minutes. The actual ATFM delay per flight for 2023 was recorded at 0.0 minutes. No capacity issues have been identified. Air traffic flows have remained significantly below 2019 levels due to the sanctions on Russia and airspace closures caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Monitoring process for capacity performance

Review of the actual values from the NM dashboard.

Capacity planning

Due to the limited traffic volumes capacity planning remains standard. ATFM delays are anticipated to remain at zero, as capacity continues to align with user demand

Application of Corrective Measures for Capacity (if applicable)

Not applicable.

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

Estonian airspace continues to be impacted by sanctions and the resulting decrease in air traffic between Europe and Asia. The ANSP has had to scale down and streamline operations while maintaining readiness for when traffic picks up again.

En route Capacity Incentive Scheme

EANS: Actual performance falls inside the deadband range; therefore no bonus is due.
In accordance with Article 3(3)(a) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1627: The incentive scheme shall cover only the calendar years 2022 to 2024.

Other indicators

N/A

Terminal performance

Arrival ATFM delay (KPI#2)

Estonia identified two airports, Tallinn and Tartu, as subject to RP3 monitoring. In accordance with IR (EU) 2019/317 and the traffic figures at these 2 airports, pre-departure delays are not monitored and the capacity performance focuses on arrival ATFM delays and slot adherence.
Traffic at these Estonian airports in 2023 was still 23% lower than in 2019.

Like in the rest of RP3, no arrival ATFM delays were observed in the entire 2023 at these two airports and slot adherence remained very high (2023: 98.9%; 2022: 98.3%).

Like in previous years, no arrival ATFM delay was observed at the Estonian airports (Tallinn and Tartu) in 2023. According to the Estonian monitoring report, this is due to low traffic volumes and well functioning systems

The Estonian performance plan sets a national target on arrival ATFM delay for all RP3 of 0.0 min/arr. This target, like in the rest of RP3, was met in 2023 with an actual performance of 0.0 min/arr.
The Estonian performance plan does not establish any bonus.

According to the Estonian monitoring report: Since the number of flights remains low and the number of delays attributable to EANS is zero, there is no point in establishing a bonus, as a bonus should motivate change, but it is impossible to improve non-existent delays.

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
Tallin NA NA NA NA 98.5% 98.2% 98.6% 98.9% 0.01 0.02 0.11 0.09 7.3 11.9 14.0 12.8
Tartu NA NA NA NA NA NA 50.0% 90.9% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

ATFM slot adherence

Tallin showed very high slot adherence (98.9%) and at Tartu there only 11 regulated departures in 2023, from which only 1 departed outside of the STW.
The national average was 98.9%. With regard to the 1.1% of flights that did not adhere, 0.3% was early and 0.8% was late.

According to the Estonian monitoring report: Performance remained on the same high level.

ATC pre-departure delay

This indicator is not monitored for airports below 80 000 IFR movements annual average during the 2016-2018 period, so it is not monitored for any airport in Estonia.

All causes pre-departure delay

This indicator is not monitored for airports below 80 000 IFR movements annual average during the 2016-2018 period, so it is not monitored for any airport in Estonia.