Annual Monitoring Report 2024 - Malta
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/2425 of 5 December 2022
List of ACCs 1
Malta ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 0
<80’K 1
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1 EUR
2024: 1 EUR
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2024 0.8%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2024 0.3%
Share en route / terminal costs 2024 76% / 24%
En route charging zone(s)
Malta
Terminal charging zone(s)
Malta
Main ANSP
• MATS
Other ANSPs
• Malta International Airport Plc.
MET Providers
–
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Malta recorded 148K actual IFR movements in 2024, +12.1% compared to 2023 (132K).
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements were +5.0% above the plan (141K).
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements are +13.8% above the actual 2019 level (130K).
▪ Malta recorded 1,108K actual service units in 2024, +14.5% compared to 2023 (968K).
▪ Actual 2024 service units were +6.1% above the plan (1,044K).
▪ Actual 2024 service units are +8.6% above the actual 2019 level (1,020K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ MATS has consistently met or exceeded the RP3 EoSM targets since 2020. However, during the last two years, the maturity has decreased for two Management Objectives. In 2024 the decrease in maturity followed an audit performed, where the NSA assessed Safety Promotion at Level C, below the planned and achieved level of 2023.
▪ Malta recorded an increase in the rate of runway incursion (RIs) and in the rate of separation minima infringements (SMIs). The NSA is continually monitoring occurrences to ensure that mitigations are applied to reduce the risks.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Malta achieved a KEA performance of 1.49% compared to its target of 1.80% and contributed positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ The NSA states that despite the optimised route profiles, the sanctions imposed by Algeria and Morocco impacted the efficiency of its airspace.
▪ KEP improved marginally and SCR remained stable compared to 2023.
▪ The share of CDO flights increased from 50.31% to 54.66% in 2024.
▪ Additional taxi out time increased from 1.97 to 2.29 min/flight, while additional time in terminal airspace increased from 0.73 to 1.05 min/flight in 2024 compared to 2023.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Malta 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 0.01. Delays in Malta remained unchanged year-on-year.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 15% above 2019 levels in Malta in 2024.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is 35, being below the 2024 plan in Malta by 3 FTEs.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Malta ACC was 9,593, showing a 9.5% increase compared to 2023. Sector opening hours are 21.6% below 2019 levels.
▪ Malta ACC registered 15.81 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2024, being 49.7% above 2019 levels.
▪ Malta registered zero minutes of average airport arrival ATFM delay per flight in 2024, thus achieving its local target of 0.01 minutes.
▪ Compared to 2023, the number of IFR arrivals in Malta increased by 13%, while the average airport arrival ATFM delay remained zero minutes.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2024 actual unit cost of Malta was 15.44€2017, -30% lower than the determined unit cost (22.09€2017). The terminal 2024 actual unit cost was 127.38€2017, -24% lower than the determined unit cost (166.65€2017).
▪ The en route 2024 actual service units (1.1M) were +6.1% higher than the determined service units (1.0M).
▪ The en route 2024 actual total costs were -6.0M€2017 (-26%) lower than determined, with all cost categories, except cost of capital, registering lower than planned costs . Staff costs for MATS were lower than planned (-1.8M€2017, or -16%), mainly due to delays in recruitment and negotiations in collective agreements. Both other operating cost (-2.5M€2017, or -45%) and depreciation cost (-1.0M€2017, or -48%) were affected by the postponement of investments. However, details were not provided.
▪ MATS costs of investments were 1.8M€2017 in 2024 for both en route and terminal charging zones, -51% less than determined (3.6M€2017) According to the NSA, this difference is due to the postponement or delays of investments.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2024 was 23.80€ (-3.0% below the 2024 DUC), while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 160.74€ (-13% below the 2024 DUC), led by higher traffic than expected and partially offset by the positive inflation adjustment.
▪ The en route regulatory result for MATS amounted to +7.5M€, or 32% of the 2024 revenues.
▪ Malta should provide all the required information regarding the difference between actual and determined costs in RP4, in the context of the annual monitoring process and the cost-exempt reporting, to enhance transparency for airspace users.
▪ Malta should ensure that any excessive regulatory result, including excess funds received by the ANSP due to the inflation mechanism, is either reinvested to improve the quality of services de-livered to airspace users or reimbursed to them.