Annual Monitoring Report 2024 - Switzerland
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2023/178 of 14 December 2022
List of ACCs 2
Geneva ACC
Zurich ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 2
<80’K 0
Exchange rate (1 EUR=)
2017: 1.11124 CHF
2024: 0.952204 CHF
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2024 1.4%
Share of Union-wide en route costs 2024 3.2%
Share en route / terminal costs 2024 64% / 36%
En route charging zone(s)
Switzerland
Terminal charging zone(s)
Switzerland
Main ANSP
• Skyguide
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
• Office Féderal de la Météorologie et de Climatologie MétéoSuisse
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Switzerland recorded 1,194K actual IFR movements in 2024, +9.3% compared to 2023 (1,092K).
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements were +4.0% below the plan (1,148K).
▪ Actual 2024 IFR movements are +1.4% above the actual 2019 level (1,177K).
▪ Switzerland recorded 1,834K actual service units in 2024, +15.0% compared to 2023 (1,595K).
▪ Actual 2024 service units were +1.3% below the plan (1,811K).
▪ Actual 2024 service units are +3.7% above the actual 2019 level (1,769K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ Skyguide achieved the RP3 EoSM targets in 2024 for all other Management Objectives than Safety Risk Management. However, Skyguide did not manage to implement improvements to Safety Risk Management as planned. The NSA has cautioned that the ANSP may not be able to achieve the required performance levels and established a corrective action plan for the ANSP.
▪ Switzerland recorded an increase in the rates of runway incursions and separation minima infringements. Both rates are below the Union-wide averages.
▪ Switzerland should ensure that the ANSP implements, in a timely and cost-efficient manner, the necessary additional measures such as enhanced processes, improved allocation of resources, targeted training, and systematic reviews. Without such actions, the achievement of the RP4 targets could be jeopardised.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Switzerland achieved a KEA performance of 4.10% compared to its target of 3.95% and did not contribute positively towards achieving the Union-wide target.
▪ The NSA states that most inefficiencies are due to the network being impacted by ATC strikes in neighbouring countries or flight planning.
▪ Both KEP and SCR improved in 2024 compared to 2023. Despite the KEA target being missed, KEA improved in 2024. Additionally, the improvement in SCR shows that Switzerland has enhanced the environmental efficiency of its airspace when accounting for impacts outside of its control.
▪ The share of CDO flights remained stable in 2024.
▪ Additional taxi out time increased from 2.72 to 2.89 min/flight, while additional time in terminal airspace increased marginally from 1.92 to 2.02 min/flight in 2024 compared to 2023.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Switzerland registered 0.49 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2024, which has been adjusted to 0.40 during the post-ops adjustment process, thus not achieving the local target value of 0.19. Delays in Switzerland increased by 0.27 minutes per flight year-on-year.
▪ Most of the delays were generated between March and September, mainly driven by adverse weather conditions and ATC Staffing issues.
▪ The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Switzerland decreased by 8 percentage points compared to 2023 and was lower than 2019 values.
▪ The average number of IFR movements was 2% above 2019 levels in Switzerland in 2024.
▪ The number of ATCOs in OPS is 113.2, being below the 2024 plan in Geneva by 7 FTEs. The number of ATCOs in OPS is 126.1, being over the 2024 plan in Zurich by 17 FTEs.
▪ The yearly total of sector opening hours in Zurich ACC was 35,633, showing a 11.1% increase compared to 2023. Sector opening hours are 0.4% above 2019 levels. The yearly total of sector opening hours in Geneva ACC was 30,477, showing a 7.9% increase compared to 2023. Sector opening hours are 5.7% below 2019 levels.
▪ Zurich ACC registered 23.72 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2024, being 2.3% above 2019 levels. Geneva ACC registered 21.9 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2024, being 3.9% above 2019 levels.
▪ Switzerland registered an average airport arrival ATFM delay of 1.78 minutes per flight in 2024, thus not achieving the local target of 1.42 minutes.
▪ Compared to 2023, average arrival ATFM delays in Switzerland were 19% higher in 2024, while the number of IFR arrivals increased by 5%.
▪ The main drivers of delays were weather, accounting for 65% of delays, and other, non-ATC related causes, responsible for 27%.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ The en route 2024 actual unit cost of Switzerland was 105.67€2017, +23% higher than the determined unit cost (86.04€2017). The terminal 2024 actual unit cost was 378.76€2017, +15% higher than the determined unit cost (330.10€2017).
▪ The en route 2024 actual service units of Switzerland (1.8M) were +1.2% higher than the determined service units (1.8M).
▪ The en route 2024 actual total costs were +38M€2017 (+24%) higher than the determined. This is mainly driven by Skyguide other operating costs (+20M€2017, or +96%), and staff costs (+8.9M€2017, or +8.1%). For both cost categories, the NSA explained that additional resources were needed to address technical incidents. In addition, Skyguide costs include +7.5M€2017 related to the impact of a change in the capitalisation rule, which was included as a negative exceptional item in the determined costs (so as to be excluded from the amounts charged to airspace users), but has not been deducted from the actual costs, as it is reported as being actually incurred.
▪ Skyguide spent 37M€2017in 2024 related to costs of investments for both en route and terminal charging zones, -6.7% lower than determined (40M€2017), mainly due to lower depreciation costs than planned.
▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2024 was 106.23€ (+3.0% higher than the 2024 DUC), while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users in 2024 was 392.69€ (-0.7% lower than the 2024 DUC ).
▪ The en route regulatory result for Skyguide amounted to -44M€. The loss is mainly attributable to the cost risk sharing mechanism, in particular the negative difference between actual and determined costs to be borne by the ANSP.