Annual Monitoring Report 2024 - SES RP3
Contextual information
No of ACCs 49
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 42
<80’K 103
Share en route / terminal costs 2024 83% / 17%
En route charging zone(s)
29
Terminal charging zone(s)
26
No of main ANSPs
29
No of other ANSPs
14
No of MET Providers
26
Main PRB findings - 2024
In 2024, European air traffic continued its recovery from the COVID-19 downturn, recording a 5% increase compared to 2023. However, the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine led to an uneven recovery across Member States.
Safety performance degraded, with nine ANSPs failing to meet the expected safety targets for RP3. At the same time, Union-wide capacity performance continued to deteriorate, as several Member States did not implement adequate measures to meet anticipated demand. The combination of uneven traffic distribution and persistent capacity shortfalls among several ANSPs resulted in most Member States falling to meet their local performance targets.
In some cases, Member States requested and were granted deviations from cost-efficiency targets to allow for investments in additional capacity measures. Yet, many of these States reported lower staff and depreciation costs than planned, indicating that key investments—such as hiring additional ATCOs and deploying new technologies—were not fully realized. Consequently, airspace users faced increased delays and higher unit rates for capacity that was not delivered.
This poor capacity performance had a direct impact on the achievement of the Union-wide environmental target. Although environmental performance remained stable compared to previous years, it continued to exceed the target. To avoid congested airspace, airspace users were forced to fly longer routes, resulting in higher fuel consumption and increased operational costs.
Traffic (SES RP3 area)
▪ The Union-wide level recorded 9,587K actual IFR movements in 2024, +5.2% compared to 2023 (9,117K).
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements at Union-wide level were -3.9% below the 9,979K IFR movements envisaged by STATFOR October 2021 base forecast.
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements represent 96% of the actual 2019 level (9,985K).
▪ The impact of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continued to significantly impact traffic flows within the SES area. As a result, some ANSPs experienced unexpected and significant higher growth in traffic compared to the Union-wide average. At the same time, other ANSPs have yet to recover the same levels of traffic experienced in 2019
▪ The Union-wide level recorded 131,545K actual service units in 2024, +7.5% compared to 2023 (122,379K).
▪ Actual 2024 service units were +1.8%% above the plan (129,239K).
▪ Actual 2024 service units were +5.1% above the actual 2019 level (125,206K).
▪ At Union-wide level service units continued to increase more quickly than movements. For many ANSPs, this results in revenues growing more than the workload generated by additional flights. However, this is not uniform across all Member States, with a number of Member States experiencing the opposite
Safety (SES RP3 area)
▪ Nine ANSPs did not achieve the RP3 targets for the effectiveness of safety management. Four of them failed to meet the target in Safety Risk Management (level D), while the other four did not achieve the target in Safety Risk Management as well as in at least one additional Management Objective (level C). One ANSP failed to achieve the target only on one additional management objective.
▪ Contrary to previous years, the Union-wide rates of runway incursions and separation minima infringements increased in 2024, countering the downward trend seen over the first four years of RP3.
Environment (SES RP3 area)
▪ The Union-wide horizontal flight efficiency (KEA) performance target was not achieved (2.96% compared to the target of 2.40%) and performance stabilised. 25 Member States did not achieve their national targets.
▪ The second full year of the effects of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine affected environmental performance, which is reflected in the KEA score being 2.96% in 2024 compared to 2.99% in 2023.
▪ For terminal airspace, both additional ASMA (arrival sequencing and metering area) time and additional taxi-out time increased. Combined, this shows a +6% increase compared to 2023, driven by both performance indicators. However, it is worth noting that performance remains better than 2019 levels.
Capacity (SES RP3 area)
▪ The Union-wide average en route ATFM delay was 2.19 minutes per flight in 2024, 1.69 minutes per flight higher than the Union-wide target. The volume and growth of traffic was unevenly distributed across the network, impacting on ANSPs in different ways, exacerbating existing capacity problems.
▪ 15 Member States did not achieve their local targets, indicating that some ANSPs still have unresolved capacity issues. Adverse weather also contributed significantly to en route ATFM delays.
▪ Four out of the 15 Member States which did not achieve capacity targets experienced double-digit traffic growth compared to 2023. Conversely, two Member States did not achieve their capacity targets even though traffic demand remained at or significantly below the forecasted level.
Cost-efficiency (SES RP3 area)
▪ The real en route actual unit cost (AUC) Union-wide was -5.8% lower than the determined unit cost (DUC). Real en route actual costs were -4.1% below determined costs, while actual service units were +1.8% higher than the determined service units.
▪ The decrease in actual costs compared to plan was mainly attributable to lower than planned staff costs and depreciation. Many ANSPs have not implemented their ATCO and investment plans and have not achieved their capacity targets.
▪ The en route actual unit cost for airspace users (AUCU) was +5.6% higher than the DUC (nom-inal), mainly due to the application of the 2024 inflation adjustment (where the weighted average actual index was +14% higher than the determined figure).
▪ The revenue gap due to COVID exceptional measures amounts to 5.7B€2017 for en route charg-ing zones, of which 1.5B€2017 have already been recovered (737M€2017 in 2023, and 743M€2017). The remaining en route revenue gap (started to be recovered from 2023) accord-ing to the exceptional measures Regulation amounts to 4.2B€2017.