PRB monitoring
▪ 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.
En route charging zone
| Actual and determined data |
| Total costs - nominal (M€) |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Actual costs |
40 |
20 |
19 |
20 |
| Determined costs |
42 |
24 |
24 |
26 |
| Difference costs |
-2 |
-3 |
-5 |
-6 |
| Inflation assumptions |
2020-2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Determined inflation rate |
NA |
4.7% |
2.8% |
2.1% |
| Determined inflation index |
NA |
109.7 |
112.8 |
115.1 |
| Actual inflation rate |
NA |
6.1% |
5.6% |
2.4% |
| Actual inflation index |
NA |
111.2 |
117.4 |
120.2 |
| Difference inflation index (p.p.) |
NA |
+1.5 |
+4.6 |
+5.1 |
AUC vs. DUC
In 2024, the en route AUC was -30.1% (or -6.65 €2017) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-25.8%, or -6.0 M€2017) and significantly higher than planned TSUs (+6.1%). It should be noted that the actual inflation index in 2024 was +5.1 p.p. higher than planned.
En route service units
The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+6.1%) falls outside the ±2% dead-band, but does not exceed the ±10% threshold foreseen in the traffic risk sharing mechanism. The resulting gain of additional en route revenues is therefore shared between the ANSP and the airspace users (see the main ANSP gain in Box 11).
En route costs by entity
The 2024 actual real en route costs are -25.8% (-6.0 M€2017) lower than planned. This is the result of lower than planned costs for the main ANSP, MATS (-25.9%, or -5.1 M€2017) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL (-25.1%, or -0.8 M€2017).
En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level
Significantly lower than planned en route costs in real terms for MATS in 2024 (-25.9%, or -5.1 M€2017) result from:
- Significantly lower than planned staff costs (-15.7%), mainly due to “delay in the recruitment programme” and “slightly lower collective agreement increases than originally planned”,
- Significantly lower than planned other operating costs (-44.5%), mainly due to “planned CAPEX not realised and (…) insurance and maintenance costs not realised”,
- Significantly lower than planned depreciation (-48.0%), mainly due to “planned CAPEX (…) not realised and planned investment (…) postponed to future years”,
- Significantly higher than planned cost of capital (+39.9%) mainly due to “the value of the actual average asset base (…) significantly higher than planned”.
RP3 summary
When considering the whole of RP3 (2020-2024) for Malta en route charging zone, actual TSUs are -3.8% lower than planned, while actual costs in real terms are -14.6% lower than the determined costs (some -15.8 M€2017). As a result, the weighted average actual unit cost over RP3 (25.26 €2017) is -11.3% lower than planned in the PP (28.47 €2017).
Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)
| AUCU components (€/SU) – 2024 |
| Components of the AUCU in 2024 |
€/SU |
| DUC |
24.55 |
| Inflation adjustment |
0.78 |
| Cost exempt from cost-sharing |
-0.75 |
| Traffic risk sharing adjustment |
-0.56 |
| Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) |
-0.22 |
| Finantial incentives |
0.00 |
| Modulation of charges |
0.00 |
| Cross-financing |
0.00 |
| Other revenues |
0.00 |
| Application of lower unit rate |
0.00 |
| Total adjustments |
-0.75 |
| AUCU |
23.80 |
| AUCU vs. DUC |
-3.0% |
| Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2024 |
€'000 |
€/SU |
| New and existing investments |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Competent authorities and qualified entities costs |
-633.0 |
-0.57 |
| Eurocontrol costs |
-197.8 |
-0.18 |
| Pension costs |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Interest on loans |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Changes in law |
0.0 |
0.00 |
| Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing |
-830.8 |
-0.75 |
The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in 2024 (23.80 €) is -3.0% lower than the nominal DUC (24.55 €). The difference between these two figures (-0.75 €/SU) is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+0.78 €/SU);
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost sharing mechanism (-0.75 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (-0.56 €/SU); and
- the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-0.22 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing.
The share of the regulatory result (see items 10 to 13) in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 28.5%.
MATS net gain on activity in the Malta en route charging zone in the year 2024
MATS reported a net gain of +6.7 M€, as a combination of a gain of +6.0 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a gain of +0.7 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.
MATS overall regulatory result (RR) for the en route activity
Ex-post, the overall RR taking into account the net gain from the en route activity mentioned above (+6.7 M€) and the actual RoE (+0.8 M€) amounts to +7.5 M€ (31.5% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 36.4%, which is higher than the 4.0% planned in the PP.
RP3 summary
When considering the whole of RP3 (2020-2024), MATS generated a cumulative gain in respect of cost sharing of +12.4 M€, as actual total costs for RP3 were lower than planned. The traffic risk sharing mechanism generated loss of -1.4 M€. Adding the actual RoE (+2.6 M€ over RP3) leads to an overall regulatory result of +13.5 M€, which corresponds to an average ex-post rate of return on equity of 22.0% (compared to 4.2% initially planned in the PP).