Capacity - Latvia

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PRB monitoring

▪ Latvia 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 Latvia remained unchanged year-on-year.

▪ The average number of IFR movements was 23% below 2019 levels in Latvia in 2024.

▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is 46, being below the 2024 plan in Riga by 15 FTEs.

▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Riga ACC was 24,398, showing a 1.5% increase compared to 2023. Sector opening hours are 15.4% below 2019 levels.

▪ Riga ACC registered 9.31 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2024, being 9.4% below 2019 levels.

▪ Latvia registered zero minutes of average airport arrival ATFM delay per flight in 2024, thus achieving the local target of 0.02 minutes.

▪ Compared to 2023, the number of IFR arrivals in Latvia increased by 3%, while the average airport arrival ATFM delay remained zero minutes.

En route performance

En route ATFM delay (KPI#1)

Summary of capacity performance

Latvia experienced an increase in traffic, from 196k flights in 2023, with zero ATFM delays to 224k flights in 2024 with less than 500 minutes of en route ATFM delay. Traffic levels are still much lower than the 2019 levels of 295k flights.

NSA’s assessment of capacity performance

In 2024, the geopolitical landscape continued to influence air traffic patterns over Latvian airspace. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine and sustained European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia, coupled with reciprocal measures, disrupted traditional air corridors. Flights between Europe and Russia remained suspended, and services to and from China and Southeast Asia were notably reduced. Consequently, Russian carriers rerouted flights to circumvent EU airspace, leading to increased traffic over international waters in the Baltic Sea, particularly for connections between Kaliningrad and mainland Russia. This rerouting resulted in heightened traffic within the Latvian delegated airspace, imposing additional operational demands on ANSPs.

In 2024, LGS experienced a 14.2% increase in the number of flights handled within the Riga FIR, rising from 197,149 in 2023 to 225,171 in 2024. This growth was predominantly driven by the rerouting of flights to avoid Russian airspace. There were no capacity problems in Riga FIR

Monitoring process for capacity performance

Regarding monitoring we are using GUIDLINE performance monitoring and compile ATFM delay data from CHMI.

Capacity planning

For capacity planning, we use standard sector configurations with defined capacities and predefined time periods for their activation, based on expected traffic demand. We retain some flexibility in increasing capacity by assigning additional controllers to sectors during peak traffic periods. However, due to recent staff departures at LGS, this flexibility has decreased. To address this, LGS is actively training new controllers and recruiting student candidates

Application of Corrective Measures for Capacity (if applicable)

Not applicable

En route Capacity Incentive Scheme

LGS: The NSA reports that a bonus of €229 739 is due.
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.

Other indicators

The war in Ukraine had a material and adverse effect on the traffic flows. The main assumption of the ATCO planning was that the operational capacity of 62 ATCOs is sufficient to cope with the traffic. Some ATCOs retired due to medical reasons and few left for other ANSPs in Europe, mainly due to financial reasons. There is a plan to replenish the ATCOs levels during the RP4, starting from 2024. The lower level of ATCOs is still sufficient to cope with lower level of traffic, however some non-ATCO duties are abolished in order to complete the operational roster.

Terminal performance

Arrival ATFM delay (KPI#2)

Latvia identified 4 airports as subject to RP3 monitoring. In accordance with IR (EU) 2019/317 and the traffic figures at these 4 airports, pre-departure delays are not monitored and the capacity performance monitoring focuses on arrival ATFM delay and slot adherence. Traffic levels at these airports in 2024 were still 27% lower than in 2019, regardless of a 3% increase with respect to 2023.

Nearly zero arrival ATFM delays were recorded at Latvian airports in 2024, same as in 2023 and 2022. National target was met. ATFM slot adherence remained very high at 99.4% in 2024 (2023: 99.5%).

Average arrival ATFM delays in 2023 were zero at all three Latvian airports.

The Latvian monitoring report clarifies: Prior to Russia’s war against the Ukraine, EVRA had daily flights to and from Russia. Due to the imposed sanctions, the RU aircraft operators were banned for entering EU airspace and later on - vice versa, that had a material impact on the traffic flows, including that to EVRA. This had a significant impact on financial situation, although did not have any adverse effects on operational performance as it can be seen in the KPI.

The Latvian performance plan sets a national target on arrival ATFM delay for 2023 of 0.02 min/arr. This target was met with an actual performance of 0.00 min/arr. The Latvian NSA calculates a maximum bonus (2%) resulting in EUR124892.70.

Other terminal performance indicators (PI#1-3)

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)
2021 2022 2023 2024 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2020
Liepaya NA NA NA NA NA 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 90.9% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Riga 0.02 0.00 NA 0.00 NA 98.8% 99.6% 99.5% 99.4% 98.4% 0.03 0.02 0.03 0.04 NA 6.8 13.7 12.8 11.7 4.6

ATFM slot adherence

Riga’s ATFM slot compliance was an excellent 99.4%. With regard to the 0.6% of flights that did not adhere, 0.5% was early and 0.1% was late.
EVVA did not have any regulated departures and EVLA had only 11, from which 1 was out of the slot tolerance window.

According to the Latvian monitoring report: For EVRA (Riga) performance is the same as previous years. Due to the specific nature of EVLA (Liepaja) aerodrome operations, with most traffic being local, very few flights are subject to ATFM slot regulation. In 2024, only 11 departing flights were regulated, and one non-compliant flight significantly affected EVLA’s overall slot adherence statistics. Slot tolerance adherence is continuously monitored, with each deviation assessed on a case-by-case basis.

ATC pre-departure delay

This indicator is not monitored for airports below 80 000 IFR movements annual average during the 2016-2018 period, so it is not monitored for any airport in Latvia.

All causes pre-departure delay

This indicator is not monitored for airports below 80 000 IFR movements annual average during the 2016-2018 period, so it is not monitored for any airport in Latvia.