PRB monitoring
▪ Ireland registered zero minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2024, which remained zero after the post-ops adjustment process, thus achieving the local target value of 0.03. Delays in Ireland decreased by 0.02 minutes per flight year-on-year.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 5.0% above 2019 levels in Ireland in 2024.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is 199, being in line with the 2024 plan in Shannon. The number of ATCOs in OPS is 56, being below the 2024 plan in Dublin by 3 FTEs.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Shannon ACC was 42,822, showing a 0.3% increase compared to 2023. Sector opening hours are 6.9% below 2019 levels. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Dublin ACC was 22,143, showing a 17.7% increase compared to 2023. Sector opening hours are 18.9% above 2019 levels.
▪ Shannon ACC registered 11.83 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2024, being 17.0% above 2019 levels. Dublin ACC registered 11.56 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2024, being 15.8% below 2019 levels.
▪ Ireland registered an average airport arrival ATFM delay of 0.32 minutes per flight in 2024, thus not achieving the local target of 0.20 minutes.
▪ Compared to 2023, average arrival ATFM delays in Ireland were 5% higher in 2024, while the number of IFR arrivals increased by 1%.
▪ The main reason for delays was weather, accounting for 96% of total delays.
Summary of capacity performance
Ireland experienced an increase in traffic, from 664k flights in 2023, to 679k flights in 2024. Delays decreased to <2k. For reference there were 647k flights in 2019 and 4k minutes of ATFM delay.
NSA’s assessment of capacity performance
The En Route ATFM delay per flight for 2024 improved relative to the 2023 performance. The AirNav Ireland performance for this KPI met the target from the Performance Plan.
Monitoring process for capacity performance
AirNav Ireland monitors on a daily basis any ATFM delay, ensuring causes are identified, the results of which are reported weekly to Senior Management. The IAA and AirNav Ireland meet regularly to discuss the peformance indicators, including ATFM delay.
Capacity planning
AirNav Ireland provides input to the Network Operations Report. It sends the capacity plan to NM for the outlook period on a weekly basis. The Network Manager in conjunction with the ANSP provides a traffic expectation at network and ACC level for the outlook period. The Network manager assesses the capacity plans which are then published on the Weekly NOP.
Application of Corrective Measures for Capacity (if applicable)
Not applicable
En route Capacity Incentive Scheme
Airnav Ireland: Ireland applies an incentive scheme in which no bonuses are applicable.
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.
Ireland includes 3 airports under RP3 monitoring. However, in accordance with IR (EU) 2019/317 and the traffic figures, only Dublin must be monitored for pre-departure delays. The Airport Operator Data Flow is fully established at Dublin and the monitoring of pre-departure delays can be performed. Nevertheless, the quality of the reporting does not allow for the calculation of the ATC pre-departure delay. Traffic at these Irish airports in 2024 was 1% above 2023 and 2019 levels.
Average arrival ATFM delay in 2024 was 0.32 min/arr, compared to 0.30 min/arr in 2023. National target on arrival ATFM delay was not met. ATFM slot adherence at national level improved (2023: 96.5%; 2024:98% ).
The national average arrival ATFM delay at Irish airports in 2024 was 0.32 min/arr. No delays were observed in 2023 at Cork (EICK) or Shannon (EINN). At Dublin (EIDW: 2019: 0.17 min/arr.; 2020: 0.14 min/arr.; 2021: 0.01 min/arr.; 2022: 0.17 min/arr.; 2023: 0.34 min/arr.; 2024: 0.38 min/arr.) the delays were attributed mainly to weather (96%).
According to the Irish monitoring report: For Terminal Operations in Cork, Shannon and Dublin, there was a total of 144,834 arrivals with ATFM delay of 45,976, giving average ATFM arrival delay of 0.32, at Airports where AirNav Ireland is present. At airports within the scope of the Performance Plan, average ATFM arrival delay per flight was 0.32 minutes, which was 0.12 minutes above the target, but when non-C,R,S,T,M,P causes are excluded (primarily weather related), the delay was 0.003 minutes. This can be categorised for Dublin Airport as 1,295 for Accident (Non-ATC), 311 Aerodrome Capacity (non-ATC), 313 minutes ATC Capacity, 132 Special Event UEFA Cup Final; and 43,925 Weather. Shannon and Cork had zero minutes.
The NSA notes that ATFM delay minutes were primarily caused by weather and aerodrome related issues. Consistent with historic patterns, only a small proportion of ATFM arrival delay was directly ANSP attributable. Continue efforts to increase ATCO staffing levels at least in line with the Performance Plan forecasts, and review measures which might be possible to reduce the extent of weather related delay.
What action has the NSA taken to check/monitor the implementation of those measures and what further actions (if any) are planned during the ongoing calendar year? Reviewing AirNav Ireland’s progress regarding ATCO recruitment and latest plans to continue to do so during RP4.
What has been done by the ANSP in order to address the identified performance issues? See above- there is a prospect that weather related delay may again make it challenging to meet the target.
What further measures does the NSA intend to undertake to remedy this situation? Regular monitoring and quarterly review meetings to discuss performance issues as they arise and how they might be addressed.
The Irish performance plan sets a national target on arrival ATFM delay for 2024 of 0.20 min/arr. This target was not met with an actual performance of 0.32 min/arr.
According to the Irish monitoring report, this performance results in the maximum penalty (0.5%) that the NSA calculates as EUR143244.37.
| 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 |
| Cork |
NA |
0.01 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
97.9% |
96.9% |
96.5% |
96.5% |
98.3% |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
15.6 |
19.5 |
15.6 |
16.5 |
16.4 |
| Dublin |
0.14 |
0.01 |
0.17 |
0.34 |
0.38 |
96.6% |
97.7% |
96.2% |
96.5% |
98.0% |
0.26 |
NA |
0.47 |
0.15 |
0.08 |
7.1 |
6.9 |
23.1 |
20.5 |
17.3 |
| Shannon |
NA |
0.02 |
NA |
0.23 |
NA |
98.3% |
95.7% |
96.0% |
95.6% |
97.3% |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
ATFM slot adherence
All three airports showed adherence above 95% and the national average was 98%. With regard to the 2% of flights that did not adhere, 1.4% were early and 0.6% were late.
According to the Irish monitoring report: Performance remained largely stable, showing a slight improvement on previous years. ATFM Compliance monitoring is carried out on an ongoing basis and reported on weekly.
ATC pre-departure delay
The calculation of the ATC pre-departure delay is based on the data provided by the airport operators through the Airport Operator Data Flow (APDF) which is properly implemented at Dublin (the only Irish airport subject to monitoring of this indicator). However, there are several quality checks before EUROCONTROL can produce the final value which is established as the average minutes of pre-departure delay (delay in the actual off block time) associated to the IATA delay code 89 (through the APDF, for each delayed flight, the reasons for that delay have to be transmitted and coded according to IATA delay codes.
However, sometimes the airport operator has no information concerning the reasons for the delay in the off block, or they cannot convert the reasons to the IATA delay codes. In those cases, the airport operator might:
- Not report any information about the reasons for the delay for that flight (unreported delay)
- Report a special code to indicate they do not have the information (code ZZZ)
- Report a special code to indicate they do not have the means to collect and/or translate the information (code 999)
To be able to calculate with a minimum of accuracy the PI for a given month, the minutes of delay that are not attributed to any IATA code reason should not exceed 40% of the total minutes of pre-departure delay observed at the airport. Finally, to be able to produce the annual figure, at least 10 months of valid data is requested by EUROCONTROL.
The share of unidentified delay reported by Dublin was above 40% for most months since April 2020, preventing the calculation of this indicator since then. Dublin had proper reporting before April 2020. As of November 2024 the reporting has improved, so the calculation of the indicator should be possible again for 2025.
The Irish monitoring report mentions: Pre-departure delay for Dublin in 2024 is N/A due to the status of ACDM, where the airport operator and NM are required to secure the connection to the Network Manager Operations Centre (NMOC).
All causes pre-departure delay
The total (all causes) delay in the actual off block time at Dublin decreased significantly in 2024 (EIDW: 2020: 7.08 min/dep.; 2021: 6.88 min/dep.; 2022: 23.07 min/dep.; 2023: 20.54 min/dep.; 2024: 17.32 min/dep.).
According to the Irish monitoring report: This PI continues to improve. Dublin Airport’s new runway 28R/10L became operational in August 2022, as noted above. The largest contributors to delay are aircraft rotational delay, and ATFM delay relating to other FIRs.