Annual Monitoring Report 2023 - Poland
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/779 of 13 April 2022
List of ACCs 1
Warsaw ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 1
<80’K 14
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 4.25483 PLN
2023: 4.53803 PLN
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2023 2.9%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2023 2.9%
Share en route / terminal costs 2023 79% / 21%
En route charging zone(s)
Poland
Terminal charging zone(s)
Poland EPWA
Poland Others
Main ANSP
• PANSA
Other ANSPs
• Warmia i Mazury sp. z o.o.
• Port Lotniczy Bydgoszcz S.A.
MET Providers
• Institute of Meteorology and Water Management - National Research Institute (IMWM)
• Radom Meteo sp. z o.o.
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Poland recorded 697K actual IFR movements in 2023, +11% compared to 2022 (627K).
▪ Actual 2023 IFR movements were -19% below the plan (863K).
▪ Actual 2023 IFR movements represent 76% of the actual 2019 level (912K).
▪ Poland recorded 3,537K actual en route service units in 2023, +13% compared to 2022 (3,129K).
▪ Actual 2023 service units were -26% below the plan (4,763K).
▪ Actual 2023 service units represent 71% of the actual 2019 level (4,972K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ PANSA has already exceeded RP3 targets in 2022 and maintained the levels in 2023. PANSA continuously improves its safety function according to SMS development roadmap.
▪ Port Lotniczy Bydgoszcz S.A. achieved the RP3 targets for four other management objectives but requires improvement for safety risk management.
▪ Warmia i Mazury sp. z o.o. achieved its RP3 EoSM targets levels already in 2022 and maintained these levels through 2023.
▪ Poland recorded a stable performance with respect to the occurrences with lower rate of runway incursions and separation minima infringements in 2023 compared with 2022 despite the traffic increase. Polish CAA urges PANSA to continue implementation of measures related to reduction of separation minima infringements foreseen in RP3 performance plan.
▪ Poland do not use automated safety data recording systems.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Poland achieved a KEA performance of 4.58% compared to its target of 1.65% and did not contribute positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ The NSA states that the worsening environmental performance was largely due to external factors linked to the geopolitical situation (Belarus and Ukraine), leading to route extensions and increased military activities.
▪ Both KEP and SCR improved in comparison with 2022. Despite the KEA target being missed, the improvement in SCR shows that Poland has improved the environmental efficiency of its airspace when accounting for impacts outside of its control.
▪ The share of CDO flights decreased marginally from 43.47% to 42.78% in 2023.
▪ During 2023, additional time in terminal airspace decreased from 1.27 to 1.19 min/flight, while additional taxi out time increased from 2.28 to 2.59 min/flight.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Poland registered 0.21 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2023 which has been adjusted to 0.2 during the post-ops adjustment process, thus not achieving the local target value of 0.12. Flight delays in Poland decreased by 0.89 minutes per flight year-on-year.
▪ Delays were highest between July and October, mainly driven by ATC capacity and staffing issues.
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Poland decreased by 16 percentage points compared to 2022 and was lower than 2019 values.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 23% below 2019 levels in Poland in 2023.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is expected to increase by 11% by 2024, with the actual value being below the 2023 plan in Warsaw by 12 FTEs.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Warsaw ACC was 35,002, showing an 8% increase compared to 2022. Sector opening hours are 18.3% below 2019 levels.
▪ Warsaw ACC registered 17.19 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2023, being 10.5% below 2019 levels.
▪ Year-on-year traffic growth was 12% in 2023 in Poland, still IFR movements remained 21% below the STATFOR October 2021 Base forecast. While there is still a capacity gap mainly driven by ATCO issues, capacity performance was significantly improved compared to 2022. Poland should continue to enhance capacity provision to fully close the gap in the coming years.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2023 actual unit cost of Poland was 50.73€2017, +26% higher than the determined unit cost (40.42€2017). The terminal zone 1 actual unit cost was 110.52€2017, which is +2.5% higher than the determined unit cost (107.80€2017), while the terminal zone 2 actual unit cost was 223.23€2017, -6.2% lower than the determined unit cost (238.06€2017).
▪ The en route 2023 actual service units (3.5M) were -26% lower than the determined service units (4.8M), mainly due to shifted traffic flows caused by the Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
▪ In 2023, the en route actual total costs were -13M€2017 (-6.8%) lower than determined, mainly due to the difference in other operating costs (-10M€2017, or -22%). This substantial cost reduction was primarily due to lower expenses in several areas, including training, outsourced IT services, rental expenses, consultancy fees, and maintenance costs.
▪ Poland presented a deviation from the criteria to achieve capacity targets, which was considered justified. Considering that costs are significantly lower and that the 2023 en route capacity targets have not been achieved, the situation raises serious concern.
▪ PANSA spent 46M€2017 in 2023 related to costs of investments for both en route and terminal charging zones, which is -1.8% lower than determined (47M€2017).
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2023 was 60.17€ (+42% above the 2023 DUC), while the terminal zone 1 actual unit cost incurred by users was 134.74€ (+18% above the 2023 DUC) and 252.15€ (+0.1% above the 2023 DUC) for terminal zone 2. The difference between the AUCU and the DUC for both charging zones is mainly driven by the inflation adjustment (+33M€ for the en route charging zone and +2.0M€ for the terminal charging zone).
▪ The PRB will take into consideration the implementation of the RP3 performance plans when assessing the RP4 cost-efficiency targets and recommends that the NSA of Poland submits a detailed report of the capacity-related measures implemented during 2024. Should the RP3 planned measures not be implemented by the end of RP3, the PRB recommends Poland to consider the reimbursement to airspace users of excess funds received by ANSPs for measures not implemented.