Annual Monitoring Report 2023 - Sweden
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/2423 of 5 December 2022
List of ACCs 2
Malmo ACC
Stockholm ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 1
<80’K 0
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 9.63311 SEK
2023: 11.4623 SEK
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2023 2.2%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2023 4.1%
Share en route / terminal costs 2023 92% / 8%
En route charging zone(s)
Sweden
Terminal charging zone(s)
Sweden
Main ANSP
• LFV
Other ANSPs
• SDATS
• ACR
• ARV - Arvidsjaur
• Swedavia
MET Providers
• SMHI
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Sweden recorded 636K actual IFR movements in 2023, +9% compared to 2022 (585K).
▪ Actual 2023 IFR movements were -15% below the plan (751K).
▪ Actual 2023 IFR movements represent 77% of the actual 2019 level (823K).
▪ Sweden recorded 2,666K actual en route service units in 2023, +8% compared to 2022 (2,472K).
▪ Actual 2023 service units were -18% below the plan (3,248K).
▪ Actual 2023 service units represent 70% of the actual 2019 level (3,820K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ LFV achieved the RP3 EoSM target levels already in 2021 and has maintained the levels since then.
▪ SDATS has improved its performance in safety culture and consequently achieved EoSM RP 3 targets for all management objectives.
▪ Although ARV – Arvidsjaur and ACR implemented significant improvements over 2023, none of the other ANSPs achieved the RP3 targets for safety risk management. Both ANSPs have put in place actions necessary to achieve the targets by the end of RP3.
▪ In 2023, Sweden has improved its occurrence reporting providing only the occurrences with safety impact (all occurrences were reported in previous years). Therefore, the occurrences rates for 2023 should not be compared with previous years. The rate of runway incursions remained above the Union-wide average, while the rate of separation infringements was below the Union-wide average.
▪ LFV do not use automated safety data recording systems.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Sweden achieved a KEA performance of 1.75% compared to its target of 1.05% and did not contribute positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ The NSA states that KEA worsened due to traffic avoiding Russian airspace (including Kaliningrad), which is causing extended trajectories.
▪ Both SCR and KEP improved compared to 2022. Despite the KEA target being missed, the improvement in SCR shows that Sweden has improved the environmental efficiency of its airspace when accounting for impacts outside of its control.
▪ The share of CDO flights decreased from 52.38% to 50.21% in 2023.
▪ During 2023, additional time in terminal airspace increased from 0.60 to 0.79 min/flight, while additional taxi out time increased from 1.52 to 1.82 min/flight.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Sweden registered 0.01 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2023, thus achieving the local target value of 0.08. Delays in Sweden decreased by 0.03 minutes per flight year-on-year.
▪ Delays were highest in July, mainly due to adverse weather conditions.
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Sweden increased by 0.1 percentage point compared to 2022 and was lower than 2019 values.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 25% below 2019 levels in Sweden in 2023.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is expected to increase by 5% by 2024, with the actual value being below the 2023 plan in Malmo by 11. The number of ATCOs in OPS is expected to increase by 8% by 2024, with the actual value being below the 2023 plan in Stockholm by 12 FTEs.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Stockholm ACC was 30,311, showing a 4% increase compared to 2022. Sector opening hours are 31.5% below 2019 levels. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Malmo ACC was 55,333, showing an 5.3% increase compared to 2022. Sector opening hours are 3.7% below 2019 levels.
▪ Malmo ACC registered 8.08 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2023, being 19.7% below 2019 levels. Stockholm ACC registered 10.09 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2023, being 8.8% above 2019 levels.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2023 actual unit cost of Sweden was 93.28 €2017, +38% higher than the determined unit cost (67.58 €2017). The terminal 2023 actual unit cost was 180.30 €2017, +32% higher than the determined unit cost (136.86 €2017).
▪ The en route 2023 actual service units (2.7M) were -18% lower than the determined service units (3.2M), mainly due to shifted traffic flows caused by the Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
▪ The en route 2023 actual total costs were higher than determined (+29 M€2017, or +13%). The difference was mainly driven by LFV staff cost (+25 M€2017, or +22%) and cost of capital (+3.6 M€2017, or +86%). The gap in staff costs is largely due to higher pension costs, indexed to inflation, which increased more than anticipated. Additionally, higher-than-planned salary increases following salary negotiations effective from October 2023 also contributed to the overall cost increase. According to the NSA, the cost of capital reflects the impact of high inflation on the valuation of pension debt, which is being used for financing instead of loans. The PRB highlights that the difference in en route pension costs for LFV (+30 M€2017, or +77%), intended to be claimed as cost exempt from the cost-sharing mechanism, could lead to double counting with the inflation adjustment and with the significantly higher valuation of the pension plan in the cost of capital (+2 M€2017, or +134%). Consequently, the PRB recommends that the NSA re-evaluates the reported adjustments for both en route and terminal in compliance with the Regulation.
▪ LFV spent 21 M€2017 in 2023 related to costs of investments for both en route and terminal charging zones, +12% higher than determined (19 M€2017). The primary factor behind this difference was a significant overspend in the cost of capital related to the cost of new and existing investments (+1.9 M€2017, or +65%). This gap was mainly due to the growth in average interest rates, which increased from 1.84% to 4.68%.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2023 was 91.17€ (+44% above the 2023 DUC), while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 181.26€ (+38% above the 2023 DUC). The difference between the AUCU and the DUC is strongly affected by the difference between the determined and actual SUs.