Cost-efficiency - Norway

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PRB monitoring

  • The en route 2025 actual unit cost of Norway was 52.83€2022, -1.9% lower than the determined unit cost (53.87€2022). The terminal 2025 actual unit cost was 217.89€2022, -4.1% lower than the determined unit cost (227.27€2022).

  • The en route 2025 actual service units (2.5M) were in line with the determined service units (2.5M).

  • The en route 2025 actual total costs were -2.7M€2022 (-2.1%) lower than determined. This is mainly due to lower staff costs for Avinor ANS (-2.7M€2022, or -3.3%). The NSA explained that it is attributable to unforeseen changes in pension costs due to changes in the defined benefits pension scheme and the assumptions underlying pension costs.

  • Avinor ANS spent 36.5M€2022 in 2025 related to costs of investments for both en route and terminal charging zones, +1.0% more than determined (36.1M€2022). According to the NSA, it is mainly due to a higher WACC than planned.

  • The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2025 was 49.64€ (-1.3% below the 2025 DUC), while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 210.53€ (-2.1% below the 2025 DUC). The difference between the AUCU and the DUC for the en route and terminal charging zones is mainly driven by pension costs in cost cost exempt from cost sharing.

En route charging zone

Unit cost (KPI#1)

Actual and determined data
Total costs - nominal (M€) 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Determined costs 144.2 157.9 167.5 176.5 185.4
Actual costs 141.4 NA NA NA NA
Difference costs -2.8 NA NA NA NA
Inflation assumptions 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Determined inflation rate 2.6% 2.0% 2.0% 2.0% 2.0%
Determined inflation index* 111.6 113.8 116.1 118.4 120.8
Actual inflation rate 2.8% NA NA NA NA
Actual inflation index* 111.8 NA NA NA NA
Difference inflation index (p.p.) +0.2 NA NA NA NA
*100 = 2022

AUC vs. DUC

In 2025, the en route AUC was -1.9% (or -10.41 NOK2022, -1.03 €2022) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-2.1%, or -27.6 MNOK2022, -2.7 M€2022) and slightly lower than planned TSUs (-0.1%).

En route service units

The difference between actual and planned TSUs (-0.1%) falls inside the ±2% dead-band. Hence, the loss of en route revenues is borne by the ANSPs.

En route costs by entity

Actual real en route costs are -2.1% (-2.7 M€2022) lower than planned. This is the result of lower costs for the main ANSP, Avinor (-2.1%, or -2.6 M€2022), the NSA/EUROCONTROL (-2.0%, or -0.2 M€2022) and the MET service provider (-0.5%) and higher costs for the other ANSP (KJE, +4.4%, or +0.1 M€2022).

En route costs for the main ANSP (Avinor Flysikring AS (Avinor ANS)) at charging zone level

Based on the additional information to the en route reporting tables, the lower than planned en route costs in real terms for Avinor in 2025 (-2.1%, or -2.6 M€2022) result from:

  • Lower than planned staff costs (-3.3%), mainly reflecting unforeseen change in pension costs (amounting to -19.5 MNOK in nominal terms), driven primarily by changes to the defined benefit pension scheme (SPK) and the related pension assumptions, including the discount rate, expected return, pension increase and social security increase.

  • Higher than planned other operating costs (+1.9%), mainly due to higher consultancy costs and STAMNETT-related costs in Tech, as well as the write-off of receivables and purchases.

  • Lower than planned depreciation (-2.1%), mainly due to projects not being completed according to plan. It should be noted that the 2025 actual depreciation cost has been adjusted up by 10.8 MNOK by the revenues from the Union assistance programmes of 2022.

  • Slightly higher than planned cost of capital (+0.6%), mainly due to a higher WACC, partly offset by lower net current assets.

  • Higher than planned deduction for VFR exempted flights (+1.8%).

Assessment of the actual performance in the charging zone reported by the NSA

The NSA of Norway provides the following overall assessment of the actual performance in 2025 at charging zone level:

“The real en route unit costs are -1.9% lower than the DUC mainly driven by the lower costs as the actual service units are only -0.1% lower than the determined.”

Explanation of the differences between actual and determined costs at charging zone level reported by the NSA

The NSA provides the following explanation for the differences between actual and determined costs in the charging zone:

“The main driver behind the cost reduction (28.5 MNOK) when comparing the actual costs to the determined is lower pension expenses. Unforeseen changes in pension costs for En Route are calculated to be a total of (19.5) MNOK, mainly driven by plan changes in the defined benefit pension scheme (SPK), as well as changes in the underlying pension assumptions (including discount rate and expected return, pension increase and social security increase). The amount will be carried forward and deducted from the unit rate in n+2.”

Recommendations formulated by the NSA to the ANSP (Avinor Flysikring AS (Avinor ANS)) to rectify the situation and actions taken by the ANSP

No information was provided by the NSA in the NSA 2025 Monitoring Report.

Avinor reports the implementation of the following actions:

“An amount of -19.5 MNOK of the reduced pension costs are treated as an unforeseen change and carried forward to airspace users in n+2.”

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

AUCU components (€/SU) – 2025
€/SU
DUC 50.29
Inflation adjustment 0.07
Cost exempt from cost sharing -0.73
Traffic risk sharing adjustment 0.00
Traffic adjustment (costs not TRS) 0.01
Financial incentives 0.00
Modulation of charges 0.00
Cross-financing 0.00
Other revenues 0.00
Application of lower unit rate 0.00
Total adjustments -0.65
AUCU 49.64
AUCU vs. DUC -1.3%
Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2025 €'000 €/SU
New and existing investments 140.7 0.06
Competent authorities and qualified entities costs -36.1 -0.01
Eurocontrol costs -140.6 -0.06
Pension costs -1,827.6 -0.74
Interest on loans -45.5 -0.02
Changes in law 117.2 0.05
Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing -1,791.9 -0.73

En route AUCU monitoring at charging zone level

The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in 2025 (580.87 NOK or 49.64 €) is -1.3% lower than the nominal DUC (588.45 NOK or 50.29 €) which includes DUC initially charged: 599.14 NOK (or 51.20 €), and DUC to be charged retroactively: -10.69 NOK (or -0.91 €). The difference between the AUCU and the nominal DUC (-7.58 NOK/SU or -0.65 €/SU) is due to:

  • the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+0.84 NOK/SU or +0.07 €/SU);

  • the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost sharing mechanism (-8.49 NOK/SU or -0.73 €/SU); and,

  • the addition of the traffic adjustment (+0.07 NOK/SU or +0.01 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing.

The share of the regulatory result (see next sub-section) in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 7.9%.

Initiatives implemented or planned that will improve this PI reported by the NSA

The NSA of Norway provides the following information regarding the initiatives:

“The reduced unit cost (adjustments per actual service unit) is mainly driven by unforeseen changes in pension costs mainly driven by plan changes in the defined benefit pension scheme (SPK), as well as changes in the underlying pension assumptions (including discount rate and expected return, pension increase and social security increase), which are carried forward to the airspace users in n+2.”

Regulatory result (RR)

Avinor Flysikring AS (Avinor ANS) net gain/loss on activity in the Norway en route charging zone in 2025

Avinor reported a net gain of +0.7 M€, as a combination of a gain of +0.9 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a loss of -0.2 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.

Avinor Flysikring AS (Avinor ANS) 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 (+0.7 M€) and the actual RoE (+8.9 M€), amounts to +9.6 M€ (8.7% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 11.3%, which is higher than the 10.4% planned in the PP. See also Note 1 below.

Note 1

Ex-ante and ex-post RoE are computed based on the notional gearing of 60% debt used in the RP4 PP. The actual gearing of Avinor for 2025 should be reported as it impacts the overall regulatory result for that year.