Cost-efficiency - Spain

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PRB monitoring

▪ The en route 2024 actual unit cost of Spain Continental was 47.95€2017, -0.5% lower than the determined unit cost (48.19€2017). The en route 2024 actual unit cost of Spain Canarias was 46.38€2017, -14% lower than the determined unit cost (53.93€2017). The terminal 2024 actual unit cost was 93.28 €2017, -12% lower than the determined unit cost (106.28€2017).

▪ The en route 2024 actual service units of Spain Continental (13.4M) were +7.9% higher than the determined service units (12.4M). The en route 2024 actual service units of Spain Canarias (2.1M) were +20% higher than the determined service units (1.8M).

▪ The en route 2024 actual total costs of Spain Continental were +44M€2017 (+7.3%) higher than determined. The gap is mainly driven by higher than expected staff costs for ENAIRE (+32M€2017, or + 9.1%). The NSA explains that this is “mainly due to obligations derived by national laws on Public Employees salary and on Social Security Scheme National Law”, as well as the recruitment of new ATCOs and a court ruling mandating ENAIRE to pay back salaries related to promotions.

▪ The en route 2024 actual total costs of Spain Canarias were +3.0M€2017, (+3.2%) higher than determined. As for the Continental charging zone, the differences mainly resulting from ENAIRE staff costs (+3.2M€2017, or +6.2%).

▪ ENAIRE costs of investments were 149M€2017 in 2024 for both en route and terminal charging zones, +8.5% higher than determined (137M €2017). This is mainly due to higher cost of capital (+10M€, or + 31%), which the NSA attributed to a higher WACC rate than planned, and an increase in the total asset base.

▪ The en route Spain Continental actual unit cost incurred by users in 2024 was 57.26€ (+12% higher than the 2024 DUC), while the en route Spain Canarias actual unit cost incurred by users in 2024 was 48.03€ (-16% lower than the 2024 DUC). The terminal actual unit cost incurred by users in 2024 was 30.61€ (-73% lower than the 2024 DUC). The difference between the AUCU and the DUC for the en route charging zones is primarily attributed to the cross-financing adjustment of 20M€ from Spain Canarias to Spain Continental. For the terminal charging zone the difference between the AUCU and DUC is mainly due to adjustment of other revenues.

En route charging zone - Spain Continental

Unit cost (KPI#1)

Actual and determined data
Total costs - nominal (M€) 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Actual costs 1,180 717 692 741
Determined costs 1,191 622 630 634
Difference costs -11 95 62 108
Inflation assumptions 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Determined inflation rate NA 1.3% 1.5% 1.6%
Determined inflation index NA 104.9 106.5 108.2
Actual inflation rate NA 8.3% 3.4% 2.9%
Actual inflation index NA 114.4 118.2 121.7
Difference inflation index (p.p.) NA +9.5 +11.8 +13.5

AUC vs. DUC

In 2024, the en route AUC was -0.5% (or -0.24 €2017) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly higher than planned TSUs (+7.9%) and significantly higher than planned en route costs in real terms (+7.3%, or +43.9 M€2017). It should be noted that the actual inflation index in 2024 was +13.5 p.p. higher than planned.

En route service units

The difference between the 2024 actual and planned TSUs (+7.9%) 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 +7.3% (+43.9 M€2017) higher than planned. This is the result of higher than planned costs for the main ANSP, ENAIRE (+8.5%, or +42.5 M€2017) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL (+4.9%, or +2.0 M€2017) and lower than planned costs for the other ANSP (EA, -0.8%, or -0.2 M€2017) and the MET SP (-1.2%, or -0.3 M€2017).

En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level

Significantly higher than planned en route costs in real terms for ENAIRE in 2024 (+8.5%, or +42.5 M€2017) result from:
- Significantly higher than planned staff costs (+9.1%), mainly due to “obligations derived by national laws on Public Employees salary and on Social Security Scheme National Law, (…) ”Special Active Reserve” introduced by a national Law 26/2022 of 19 December (…) Judgment 1225/2024 of 30 October 2024, from the Supreme Court (…), in which ENAIRE (has) to pay 12.1 M€ outstanding salaries to air traffic controllers (….) for year 2024”,
- Significantly lower other operating costs (-5.7%) in real terms due to the impact of the inflation index (+13.5 p.p.) since, in nominal terms, operating costs were above the plan (+6.1%) reflecting mainly”rise in energy costs”,
- Higher depreciation costs (+4.1%),
- Significantly higher cost of capital (+40.5%), due to higher actual asset-base and higher than planned average interest rate on debts (2.9% vs 0.9% planned).

RP3 summary

When considering the whole of RP3 (2020-2024) for Spain en route charging zone, actual TSUs are +3.7% higher than planned, while actual costs in real terms are +2.8% higher than the determined costs (some +82.4 M€2017). As a result, the weighted average actual unit cost over RP3 (63.81 €2017) is -0.9% lower than planned in the PP (64.36 €2017).

Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)

AUCU components (€/SU) – 2024
Components of the AUCU in 2024 €/SU
DUC 51.02
Inflation adjustment 4.32
Cost exempt from cost-sharing 3.71
Traffic risk sharing adjustment -1.64
Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) -0.58
Finantial incentives -0.20
Modulation of charges 0.00
Cross-financing 1.53
Other revenues -0.89
Application of lower unit rate 0.00
Total adjustments 6.25
AUCU 57.26
AUCU vs. DUC + 12.2%
Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2024 €'000 €/SU
New and existing investments 14,076.8 1.05
Competent authorities and qualified entities costs 488.2 0.04
Eurocontrol costs 1,479.5 0.11
Pension costs 0.0 0.00
Interest on loans 0.0 0.00
Changes in law 33,661.5 2.51
Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing 49,705.9 3.71

The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in 2024 (57.26 €) is +12.2% higher than the nominal DUC (51.02 €). The difference between these two figures (+6.25 €/SU) is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+4.32 €/SU);
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost sharing mechanism (+3.71 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (-1.64 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-0.58 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing;
- the financial incentives (-0.20 €/SU);
- cross-financing between Spain Continental and Spain Canarias charging zones (+1.53 €/SU); and
- the deduction of other revenues (-0.89 €/SU).
The share of the regulatory result (see items 10 to 14) in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 5.8%.

Regulatory result (RR)

ENAIRE (Continental) net loss on activity in the Spain Continental en route charging zone in the year 2024

ENAIRE (Continental) reported a net gain of +15.5 M€, as a combination of a loss of -1.9 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a gain of +20.1 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism and a loss of -2.7 M€ relating to financial incentives.

ENAIRE (Continental) 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 (+15.5 M€) and the actual RoE (+25.2 M€) amounts to +40.7 M€ (6.2% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 14.0%, which is higher than the 8.6% planned in the PP.

RP3 summary

When considering the whole of RP3 (2020-2024), ENAIRE (Continental) generated a cumulative gain in respect of cost sharing of +62.1 M€, as actual total costs for RP3 were lower than planned. The traffic risk sharing mechanism generated a gain of +34.7 M€. Adding the loss of -5.3 M€ to be retained by the ATSP in respect of financial incentives and the actual RoE (+109.8 M€ over RP3) leads to an overall regulatory result of +201.3 M€, which corresponds to an average ex-post rate of return on equity of 13.7% (compared to 7.4% initially planned in the PP).