Cost-efficiency - Slovakia

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PRB monitoring

  • The en route 2025 actual unit cost of Slovakia was 67.35€2022, +15.5% higher than the determined unit cost (58.29€2022). Slovakia does not have a terminal charging zone.

  • The en route 2025 actual service units (1.2M) were -8.4% lower than the determined service units (1.3M).

  • The en route 2025 actual total costs were +4.4M€2022 (+5.8%) higher than determined. This is mainly due to higher other operating costs for LPS SR (+4.0M€2022, or +65.5%). According to the NSA, this rise was necessary to maintain the required level of safety, retain qualified personnel and ensure continued service provision.

  • LPS SR costs of investments were 10.4M€2022 in 2025, -3.3% less than determined (10.8M€2022). According to the NSA, it is mainly due to the postponement of some investments.

  • The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2025 was 69.85€ (+4.6% above the 2025 DUC). The difference between the AUCU and the DUC is mainly driven by the traffic risk sharing adjustment.

En route charging zone

Unit cost (KPI#1)

Actual and determined data
Total costs - nominal (M€) 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Determined costs 87.0 92.1 96.0 100.0 102.0
Actual costs 92.7 NA NA NA NA
Difference costs 5.7 NA NA NA NA
Inflation assumptions 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Determined inflation rate 3.7% 2.9% 2.2% 2.0% 2.0%
Determined inflation index* 118.7 122.1 124.8 127.3 129.8
Actual inflation rate 4.2% NA NA NA NA
Actual inflation index* 119.4 NA NA NA NA
Difference inflation index (p.p.) +0.6 NA NA NA NA
*100 = 2022

AUC vs. DUC

In 2025, the en route AUC was +15.5% (or +9.05 €2022) higher than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly lower than planned TSUs (-8.4%) and significantly higher than planned en route costs in real terms (+5.8%, or +4.4 M€2022).

En route service units

The difference between actual and planned TSUs (-8.4%) falls outside the ±2% dead-band but does not exceed the ±10% threshold foreseen in the traffic risk sharing mechanism. The resulting loss of en route revenues is therefore shared between the ANSP and the airspace users (see the main ANSP regulatory result).

En route costs by entity

Actual real en route costs are +5.8% (+4.4 M€2022) higher than planned. This is the result of higher costs for the main ANSP, LPS SR (+6.7%, or +4.5 M€2022) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL (+2.1%, or +0.1 M€2022) and lower costs for the MET service provider (-9.2%, or -0.3 M€2022).

En route costs for the main ANSP (LPS SR) at charging zone level

Based on the additional information to the en route reporting tables, the significantly higher than planned en route costs in real terms for LPS SR in 2025 (+6.7%, or +4.5 M€2022) result from:

  • Higher than planned staff costs (+2.0%), mainly due to legislative changes in social security contribution.

  • Significantly higher than planned other operating costs (+65.5%).

  • Lower than planned depreciation (-3.4%), mainly due to “postponement of some investments”.

  • Significantly lower than planned cost of capital (-8.5%) also explained by “postponement of some investments”.

  • Significantly higher than planned deduction for VFR exempted flights (+10.8%).

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

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

“The actual en-route unit cost for 2025 exceeded the determined unit cost by approximately 15.5%. The deviation was primarily driven by lower-than-planned traffic volumes (TSU -8.4%) combined with higher-than-planned actual costs (+5.8%). As a result, the fixed cost base was distributed over a lower number of service units, leading to a significant increase in the actual unit cost compared to the RP4 target.”

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:

“Actual en-route costs in 2025 were approximately 5.8% higher than the determined costs. The increase was mainly attributable to higher operational and staff-related expenditures necessary to maintain the required level of safety, retaining qualified personnel and service provision. At the same time, traffic volumes remained below the level assumed in the Performance Plan, with total service units being approximately 8.4% lower than planned. The combination of higher costs and lower traffic resulted in an actual unit cost significantly above the determined value.”

Recommendations formulated by the NSA to the ANSP (LPS SR) to rectify the situation and actions taken by the ANSP

The NSA 2025 monitoring report indicates the following recommendations formulated by the NSA:

“The NSA recommends that the ANSP:

  • continue monitoring and controlling operational and administrative costs;

  • identify the main drivers of the cost increase and implement mitigating measures where feasible.”

LPS SR reports the implementation of the following actions:

“The management of ANSP has initiated personal audit.”

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

AUCU components (€/SU) – 2025
€/SU
DUC 66.76
Inflation adjustment 0.30
Cost exempt from cost sharing -0.56
Traffic risk sharing adjustment 2.94
Traffic adjustment (costs not TRS) 0.65
Financial incentives 0.00
Modulation of charges 0.00
Cross-financing 0.00
Other revenues -0.24
Application of lower unit rate 0.00
Total adjustments 3.09
AUCU 69.85
AUCU vs. DUC + 4.6%
Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2025 €'000 €/SU
New and existing investments -410.3 -0.34
Competent authorities and qualified entities costs 160.4 0.13
Eurocontrol costs -39.0 -0.03
Pension costs -375.0 -0.31
Interest on loans -1.1 0.00
Changes in law 0.0 0.00
Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing -664.9 -0.56

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 (69.85 €) is +4.6% higher than the nominal DUC (66.76 €) which includes DUC initially charged: 72.27 €, and DUC to be charged retroactively: -5.52 €. The difference between the AUCU and the nominal DUC (+3.09 €/SU) is due to:

  • the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+0.30 €/SU);

  • the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost sharing mechanism (-0.56 €/SU);

  • the addition of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (+2.94 €/SU);

  • the addition of the traffic adjustment (+0.65 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing; and,

  • the deduction of other revenues (-0.24 €/SU).

The share of the regulatory result (see next sub-section) in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is -8.2%.

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

No information on such initiatives was provided in the NSA 2025 Monitoring Report.

Regulatory result (RR)

LPS SR net gain/loss on activity in the Slovakia en route charging zone in 2025

LPS SR reported a net loss of -9.3 M€, as a combination of a loss of -6.2 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a loss of -3.1 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.

LPS SR overall regulatory result (RR) for the en route activity

Ex-post, the overall RR, taking into account the net loss from the en route activity mentioned above (-9.3 M€) and the actual RoE (+2.2 M€, see also Note 1 below), amounts to -7.1 M€ (-9.5% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is negative (-13.0%), compared to the 4.0% planned in the PP.

Note 1

As is the case for each ANSP, the amount of return on equity (RoE) presented in this analysis for LPS SR is derived using the assumptions provided in the Slovak submission of en-route reporting tables (rate of RoE and share of financing through equity). However, it should be noted that the actual 2025 cost of capital figure reported for LPS SR in the en-route reporting tables (2.1 M€) differs from the value that is calculated on the basis of the assumptions provided (2.3 M€).