Capacity - Finland

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PRB monitoring

▪ Finland registered zero minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2023, thus achieving the local target value of 0.05. Delays in Finland remained unchanged year-on-year.

▪ The average number of IFR movements was 21% below 2019 levels in Finland in 2023.

▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is expected to increase by 8% by 2024, with the actual value being below the 2023 plan in Helsinki by 11 FTEs.

▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Tampere ACC was 10,162, showing a 3.3% increase compared to 2022. Sector opening hours are 24.7% below 2019 levels.

▪ Tampere ACC registered 15.61 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2023, being 5.6% above 2019 levels.

▪ Finland registered an average airport arrival ATFM delay of 0.14 minutes per flight in 2023, achieving the local target of 0.32 minutes.

▪ Compared to 2022, average arrival ATFM delays in Finland were 120% higher in 2023, while the number of IFR arrivals increased by 7%.

▪ The main reason for delays was weather, accounting for 97% of delays.

En route performance

En route ATFM delay (KPI#1)

Summary of capacity performance

Finland experienced an increase in traffic from 205k flights in 2022, to 224k flights in 2023, yet again, with zero ATFM delay. Traffic levels remain substantially below the 2019 level of 285k flights, mainly due to ramifications from Russia’s war against Ukraine.

NSA’s assessment of capacity performance

The war in Ukraine and the closure of Russian airspace and banning Russian airlines from flying in Finnish airspace continued having a huge impact in traffic in 2023.

As a result of the sanctions, all European airlines stopped flying to Asia completely over Finland. Overflying traffic resulted around 70 % compared to the level of 2019. These traffic volumes are expected to continue and this situation remain as a new normal. Fintraffic ANS continued adapting its operations but not as strongly as in 2022. Layoffs continued but only until June.

Finland reached the capacity targets in both KPIs, en-route and terminal. En-route delays have been zero for many years, and the capacity provided for this is due to user demand for as few delays as possible. For terminal, the delays were 0,14 (-0,18 below the target), mostly caused by weather in the winter months.

Monitoring process for capacity performance

Review of the actual values from the NM dashboard.

Capacity planning

En-route ATFM delay will remain low as the capacity is delivered according to user demand.

Application of Corrective Measures for Capacity (if applicable)

Not applicable.

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

There are changes in traffic flows/patterns. The airspace closures have shifted the traffic flows from Russia to Kaliningrad, and these flights have to use the narrow international airspace corridor between Finland and Estonia, and can not use the direct routing that has been used before the war. There is an average of 350 flights per week. Also the flights from Europe to Asia are not overflying Finnish airspace anymore because of the airspace closure. Other change is in the flights between Finland (Helsinki) and Japan, where our main operator Finnair flies daily. These flights can’t fly the most direct route anymore because of the airspace closure, and have to fly via northern route above the North Pole. These changes do not affect the en route capacity performance, but still need to be taken into account when assessing the overall performance of the ANSP.

En route Capacity Incentive Scheme

Fintraffic ANS: Even though there was zero delays, the actual performance falls within the deadband, so 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)

Finland identifies only Helsinki airport as subject to RP3 monitoring. The Airport Operator Data Flow is fully established and the monitoring of all capacity indicators can be performed. Traffic at this airport in 2023 was still 27% lower with respect to 2019, and 7% above 2022 levels.

Average arrival ATFM delays in 2023 were 0.14 min/arr, compared to 0.06 min/arr in 2022. The national target was met. ATFM slot adherence has slightly decreased (2023: 95.1%; 2022: 95.6%).

Arrival ATFM delays at Helsinki in 2023 averaged 0.14 min/arr, an increase with respect to 2022 (0.06 min/arr). 97% of these delays were attributed to weather, followed by 3% of Special Event.

Finland reports: For terminal, the delays were 0,14 (-0,18 below the target), and the only delays were caused by weather, mostly in the winter months. No airport ATFM delays due to the war.

The Finnish performance plan sets a national target on arrival ATFM delay for 2023 of 0.32 min/arr. This target was met in 2023 with an actual performance of 0.14 min/arr. The incentive scheme uses modulated pivot values limited CRSTMP delay causes. This pivot value for CRSTMP is 0.02 min/arr during all RP3. According to the attribution of the regulation reason, the actual CRSTMP value for 2023 is 0.005 min/arr. The incentive scheme in the Performance Plan however does not contemplate any bonus.

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 2024 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Helsinki-Vantaa 0.20 0.10 0.06 0.14 NA 93.6% 93.1% 95.6% 95.1% NA% 0.08 0.08 0.21 0.12 NA 7.8 11.1 11.5 10.6 NA

ATFM slot adherence

Helsinki’s ATFM slot compliance was 95.1 %. With regard to the 4.9% of flights that did not adhere, 1% was early and 3.9% was late.

ATC pre-departure delay

ATC pre-departure delay at Helsinki (EFHK: 2023: 0.12 min/dep) decreased with respect to 2022 is still below the pre-pandemic value (0.39 min/dep).

All causes pre-departure delay

The total (all causes) delay in the actual off block time at Helsinki decreased in 2023 (EFHK: 2020: 7.76 min/dep.; 2021: 11.07 min/dep.; 2022: 11.46 min/dep.; 2023: 10.61 min/dep.).