Summary of capacity performance
Romania experienced an increase in traffic from 769k flights in 2023 with 121k minutes of en route ATFM delay, to 820k flights in 2024 with 105k minutes of en route ATFM delay. In 2023, all ATFM delays were attributed to adverse weather. There were an additional 14k minutes of delay originating in Romania that were re-attributed to DFS (14k) and HungaroControl (<1k) via the NM post operations delay attribution process, according to the NMB agreement for eNM/S24 measures, to ameliorate capacity shortfalls in Karlsruhe UAC and Budapest ACC.
NSA’s assessment of capacity performance
The year 2024 continues to be deeply impacted, both economically and operationally, by the war in Ukraine. The Russian invasion and the subsequent restrictions and sanctions imposed have determined traffic flows that were already circumnavigating the conflict area following the events in 2014 to be pushed further to Romania’s south-western part. Furthermore, new traffic flows prefer to cross atypically the Romanian airspace in this geopolitical context. Average distance/flight has increased compared to 2019 and this is visible also in the service units evolution that has outpaced the IFR movements trend in comparison with 2019. These, combined with the increased military activity, including ad-hoc activity focused not only in the NE part of Romania, but in the entirety of the airspace, have generated an increase in complexity whilst also forcing operations into a narrower corridor to keep AUs away from conflict zones.
Bucharest ACC handled +7 % more IFR Movements than 2023, exceeding by 10% the 2019 pre-pandemic level and 11% more than what was estimated in the RP3 Performance Plan. The average en-route ATFM delay at 0.13 min/flight for the year, but all recorded delay minutes were attributed to adverse weather, and the result is well below the network-wide reference value of 0.5 min/flight.
Despite the swift rebound of traffic in Romanian airspace, nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels with 97% of 2019 IFR movements and surpassing those levels with 104% in terms of service units, the complexity has increased due to re-routings and increased military activity from the war in Ukraine. Nevertheless, ROMATSA has managed to maintain zero (CRSTMP) delays attributable to ATC, with delays occurring only due to weather conditions.
Monitoring process for capacity performance
ROMATSA provided regularly inputs on capacity availability in the context of NOP Rolling Seasonal Plan implemented by the Network manager at European network level. The expected en-route performance was and is regularly evaluated by the NM for each ACC, including Bucuresti ACC, in terms of planned/maximum sector openings in relation with the estimated traffic demand. The performance target has not been met solely due to weather related restrictions. From 118 914 ATFM delay minutes incurred in 2024, the total of 100% were generated due to weather reasons. The delay due to all other reasons, incl. ATC capacity and stafffing, were zero which confirms that there was no capacity gap in 2024.
Capacity planning
The capacity as previously planned and published within an annual NOP (Network Operatios Plan) has been adapted accordingly by adoption of capacity plans under a NOP Rolling Seasonal Plan format, including periods of 6 weeks, based on the expected traffic demand regularly provided by the Network Manager. These plans refer to:
- sector openings;
- maximum possible sector openings;
- availability of support of operational staff;
- special events and projects, etc.
Bucuresti ACC ensured a stable sector opening plan with no sector capacity reduction, with the possibility to increase the number of sectors when traffic increased.
Application of Corrective Measures for Capacity (if applicable)
The performance target has not been met solely due to weather related restrictions, that is an uncontrollable factor. The delay due to all other reasons, incl. ATC capacity and stafffing, were zero which confirms that there was no capacity gap in 2024.
Traffic volumes have risen sharply since the post-COVID rebound, amplified by large-scale reroutings triggered by the war in Ukraine and the associated air-space restrictions. Flows that had already skirted the conflict zone after 2014 have been displaced even farther to the south-west of the București FIR, while additional east-west flows now transit Romania along atypical corridors. As a result, the average distance flown per IFR movement is higher than in 2019, a trend also reflected in the faster growth of service units compared with flight counts. From April 2023 onward, daily IFR movements in Romanian airspace have exceeded their 2019 baseline, sustaining this upward pressure on workload and complexity. The situation is compounded by heightened military activity, which frequently compresses civil routes into narrower corridors and requires increased tactical coordination.
A second structural risk stems from the age profile of ROMATSA’s en-route controller workforce. More than one-third of ACC București air-traffic-controllers are already over 50 and will be past 55 by the end of RP3. Because initial training, on-the-job instruction and sector endorsements together take three to five years, ROMATSA launched a new recruitment cycle in 2017 and continues to run successive intakes to ensure a steady pipeline of trainees and maintain safe staffing levels as retirements accelerate.
En route Capacity Incentive Scheme
ROMATSA: Romania uses an incentive scheme based only on delays attributed to C,R,S,T,M & P delay codes. The CRSTMP target was set at 0.04 minutes per flight, which is the full national target for all causes of delay, and the actual performance is reported as 0.00 minutes per flight (CRSTMP only).
The bonus is reported as 17 283.44 KRON.
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.