Annual Monitoring Report 2023 - Malta
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/2425 of 5 December 2022
List of ACCs 1
Malta ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 0
<80’K 1
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1 EUR
2023: 1 EUR
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2023 0.8%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2023 0.3%
Share en route / terminal costs 2023 81% / 19%
En route charging zone(s)
Malta
Terminal charging zone(s)
Malta
Main ANSP
• MATS
Other ANSPs
• Malta International Airport Plc.
MET Providers
–
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Malta recorded 132K actual IFR movements in 2023, +32% compared to 2022 (101K).
▪ Actual 2023 IFR movements were -2.7% below the plan (136K).
▪ Actual 2023 IFR movements are 2% above the actual 2019 level (130K).
▪ Malta recorded 968K actual en route service units in 2023, +45% compared to 2022 (667K).
▪ Actual 2023 service units were -3.8% below the plan (1,006K).
▪ Actual 2023 service units represent 95% of the actual 2019 level (1,020K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ MATS achieved its RP3 EoSM targets in 2020 and has since maintained this level. In 2023 safety culture was downgraded to level C, however MATS still achieves the RP3 target levels.
▪ Malta recorded a significant increase in the rate of runway incursion and a single occurrence of separation minima infringements (SMIs). The NSA is continually monitoring occurrences and results of the investigations carried out to ensure that mitigations are applied to reduce the risks.
▪ MATS do not use automated safety data recording systems.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Malta achieved a KEA performance of 1.58% compared to its target of 1.80% and contributed positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ The NSA states that despite the optimised route profiles, the sanctions imposed by Algeria and Morocco impacted the efficiency of its airspace.
▪ Both KEP and SCR improved compared to 2022.
▪ The share of CDO flights decreased from 54.09% to 50.31% in 2023.
▪ During 2023, additional time in terminal airspace increased from 0.67 to 0.73 min/flight, while additional taxi out time increased from 1.81 to 1.97 min/flight.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Malta registered zero minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2023, thus achieving the local target value of 0.01. Delays in Malta remained unchanged year-on-year.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 3% above 2019 levels in Malta in 2023.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is expected to increase by 26% by 2024, with the actual value being below the 2023 plan in Malta by 6 FTEs.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Malta ACC was 8,760, showing a 0% change compared to 2022. Sector opening hours are 28.4% below 2019 levels.
▪ Malta ACC registered 15.45 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2023, being 46.3% above 2019 levels.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2023 actual unit cost of Malta was 17.52 €2017, -19% lower than the determined unit cost (21.61 €2017). The terminal 2023 actual unit cost was 105.19 €2017, -34% lower than the determined unit cost (159.00 €2017).
▪ The en route 2023 actual service units (0.97M) were -3.8% lower than the determined service units (1.01M).
▪ The en route 2023 actual total costs were -4.8 M€2017 (-22%) lower than determined. The reduction was mainly due to significant difference in other operating costs (-2.5 M€2017, or -33%) and staff costs (-1.8 M€2017, or -16%). The NSA did not provide detailed explanations. The PRB recommends that the NSA submit an updated Additional Information to the Reporting Tables, providing more comprehensive explanations for the differences between the actual and determined costs in each cost category.
▪ MATS spent 2.3 M€2017 in 2023 related to costs of investments for both en route and terminal charging zones, -32% less than determined (3.4 M€2017). Furthermore, the actual net current assets for the year were +6.1 M€2017 higher than anticipated (+616%), whereas the actual fixed assets were -5.2 M€2017 lower than the determined figures (-40%). The NSA did not provide an explanation for these discrepancies.
▪ Similarly to 2022, Malta did not provide the required data in time. The PRB recommends that the NSA put in place a solid process for reporting to fulfill the Regulation requirements.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2023 was 23.53€ (-0.4% below the 2023 DUC), while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 160.96€ (-7.5% below the 2023 DUC).
▪ The en route regulatory result for MATS amounted to +4.2 M€, or 21% 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.