Annual Monitoring Report 2024 - Belgium
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2024/350 of 13 December 2023
List of ACCs 1
Brussels ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 1
<80’K 0
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1 EUR
2024: 1 EUR
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2024 1.9%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2024 3.6%
Share en route / terminal costs 2024 86% / 14%
En route charging zone(s)
Belgium-Luxembourg
Terminal charging zone(s)
Belgium
Main ANSP
• skeyes
Other ANSPs
• MUAC
MET Providers
–
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Belgium/Luxembourg recorded 1,200K actual IFR movements in 2024, +3.6% compared to 2023 (1,158K).
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements were -3.5% below the plan (1,244K).
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements represent 96% of the actual 2019 level (1,249K).
▪ Belgium-Luxembourg recorded 2,514K actual service units in 2024, +2.7% compared to 2023 (2,247K).
▪ Actual 2024 service units were -1.8% below the plan (2,560).
▪ Actual 2024 service units represent 96% of the actual 2019 level (2,620K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ In 2024, skeyes did not achieve its planned maturity level for Safety Risk Management and Safety Assurance. Consequently, skeyes did not achieve the RP3 target.
▪ The overall safety performance of skeyes was stable. The rate of separation minima infringements (SMIs) and runway incursion (RIs) were lower than in 2023 and remained below the Union-wide average.
▪ Belgium should ensure that the ANSP implements, in a timely and cost-efficient manner, the necessary additional measures such as enhanced processes, improved allocation of resources, targeted training, and systematic reviews. Without such actions, the achievement of the RP4 targets could be jeopardised.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Belgium achieved a KEA performance of 3.48% compared to its target of 3.00% and did not contribute positively to the Union-wide target.
▪ The NSA states that given the limited size of the Belgium-Luxembourg airspace, possibilities to improve are limited and this effect is reinforced by the metric excluding an area of 40 nm around the departing/arriving airports.
▪ KEP improved and SCR improved marginally in comparison with 2023’s performance. Despite the KEA target being missed, the improvement in SCR shows that Belgium has improved the environmental efficiency of its airspace when accounting for impacts outside of its control.
▪ The share of CDO flights increased from 16.20% to 17.69 in 2024.
▪ Both additional taxi out time and additional time in terminal remained stable in 2024 compared to 2023.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Belgium registered 0.08 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2024, which remained 0.08 after the post-ops adjustment process, thus achieving the local target value of 0.17. Delays in Belgium decreased by 0.01 minutes per flight year-on-year.
▪ The majority of delays accumulated in October, mostly due to other, non-ATC delays reasons and adverse weather conditions.
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Belgium decreased by 6 percentage points compared to 2023 and was lower than 2019 values.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 9% below 2019 levels in Belgium in 2024.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is 92, being over the 2024 plan in Brussels by 1 FTE.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Brussels ACC was 28,637, showing a 0.4% increase compared to 2023. Sector opening hours are 1.7% below 2019 levels.
▪ Brussels ACC registered 20.27 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2024, being 7.0% below 2019 levels.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2024 actual unit cost of Belgium-Luxembourg was 87.09€2017, +8.5% higher than the determined unit cost (80.26€2017). The terminal 2024 actual unit cost of Belgium was 232.99€2017, +5.3% higher than the determined unit cost (221.23€2017).
▪ The en route 2024 actual service units (2.5M) were -1.8% lower than the determined service units (2.6M).
▪ The en route 2024 actual total costs were +13M€2017 (+6.6%) higher than determined. The gap was mainly due to the negative exceptional item which was included in the determined costs to achieve the RP3 cost-efficiency targets, but is not included in the actual costs. This was partially offset by lower staff costs than planned (-8.6M€2017, or -8.4%) for skeyes, which the NSA attributed to difficulties in recruitment.
▪ Skeyes costs of investments were 18M€2017 in 2024 for both en route and terminal charging zones, -9.8% less than determined (20M€2017). According to the NSA, this difference is due to projects delays and a lower fixed asset base.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2024 was 97.80€ (-0.7% below the 2024 DUC). The terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 186.67€ (-31% below the 2024 DUC) for Belgium and 226.12€ (-14% below the 2024 DUC) for Luxembourg. The differences between the AUCU and the DUC for the terminal charging zones of Belgium and Luxembourg are mainly affected by the adjustment of other revenues.