Annual Monitoring Report 2024 - Portugal
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/767 of 13 April 2022
List of ACCs 1
Lisbon ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 2
<80’K 8
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1 EUR
2024: 1 EUR
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2024 3.4%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2024 2.3%
Share en route / terminal costs 2024 78% / 22%
En route charging zone(s)
Portugal Continental
Terminal charging zone(s)
Portugal
Main ANSP
• NAV Portugal (Continental)
Other ANSPs
• Estado Maior da Força Aérea
• Estado Maior da Armada
MET Providers
• IPMA
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Portugal-Lisboa recorded 723K actual IFR movements in 2024, +6.8% compared to 2023 (677K).
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements were +14.4% above the plan (632K).
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements are +11.1% above the actual 2019 level (651K).
▪ Portugal-Lisboa recorded 4,510K actual service units in 2024, +9.4% compared to 2023 (4,123K).
▪ Actual 2024 service units were +16.1% above the plan (3,884K).
▪ Actual 2024 service units are +11.1% above the actual 2019 level (4,060K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ NAV Portugal achieved the RP3 EoSM targets for all five Management Objectives in 2020. However, in 2023, the ANSP experienced a decline in performance, failing to maintain the required level for Safety Risk Management. In response, NAV Portugal implemented targeted measures in 2024, particularly in the area of occurrence analysis and monitoring, which enabled the organisation to recover and achieve the required RP3 EoSM target level D in this management objective.
▪ Portugal recorded stable performance with respect to safety occurrences, with lower rates of separation infringement and runway incursion. The NSA approved the State safety plan related to monitoring of occurrences and implementation and efficiency of specific measures.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Portugal achieved a KEA performance of 1.61% compared to its target of 1.80% and contributed positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ Both KEP and SCR deteriorated compared to 2023 levels and had similar values, meaning airlines planned the most efficient routes available.
▪ The share of CDO flights decreased from 53.10% to 46.22% in 2024.
▪ Additional taxi out time increased from 2.70 to 3.06 min/flight, while additional time in terminal airspace increased from 1.51 to 2.17 min/flight in 2024 compared to 2023.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Portugal registered 0.39 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2024, which remained 0.39 after the post-ops adjustment process, thus not achieving the local target value of 0.13. Delays in Portugal decreased by 0.09 minutes per flight year-on-year.
▪ Most of the delays were generated in March and between October and December, mainly driven by the lack of ATC Capacity.
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Portugal decreased by 2 percentage points compared to 2023 and was lower than 2019 values.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 11% above 2019 levels in Portugal in 2024.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is 160, being below the 2024 plan in Lisbon by 22 FTEs.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Lisbon ACC was 69,059, showing a 1.3% increase compared to 2023. Sector opening hours are in line with 2019 levels.
▪ Lisbon ACC registered 9.69 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2024, being 10.5% above 2019 levels.
▪ Despite investments into the new ATM system, a capacity gap in Portugal remains. Portugal should continue to expedite the training and recruitment of controllers and improve the allocation of ATCO resources to ensure that the capacity gap is closed. Actual 2025 figures up to August indicate a performance improvement.
▪ Portugal registered an average airport arrival ATFM delay of 2.70 minutes per flight in 2024, thus not achieving the local target of 2.00 minutes.
▪ Compared to 2023, average arrival ATFM delays in Portugal were 4% higher in 2024, while the number of IFR arrivals increased by 2%.
▪ The main drivers of delays were weather, accounting for 53% of delays, and other, non-ATC related causes, responsible for 36%.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2024 actual unit cost of Portugal was 31.82€2017, -16% lower than the determined unit cost (37.87€2017). The terminal 2024 actual unit cost was 121.93€2017, -16% lower than the determined unit cost (144.89€2017).
▪ The en route 2024 actual service units of Portugal (4.5M) were +16% higher than the determined service units (3.9M).
▪ The en route 2024 actual total costs were -3.6M€2017, (-2.5%) lower than determined, with all cost categories registering lower-than-planned costs. This difference is mainly driven by lower staff costs (-1.8M€2017, or -1.9%) for NAV Portugal. However, in nominal terms, staff costs were +10.4% higher than planned, mainly due to overtime resulting from higher traffic.
▪ NAV Portugal costs of investments were 18M€2017 in 2024 for both en route and terminal charging zones, -3.9% lower than determined (19M€2017). The difference is mainly resulting from lower cost of capital, due to lower net book value of fixed assets.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2024 was 37.71€ (-5.2% lower than the 2024 DUC), while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users in 2024 was 147.40€ (-3.6% lower than the 2024 DUC). Both these changes were mostly led by the effect of higher traffic than expected.