Cost-efficiency - Slovenia

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PRB monitoring

  • The en route 2025 actual unit cost of Slovenia was 52.93€2022, -4.1% lower than the determined unit cost (55.22€2022). Slovenia does not have a terminal charging zone.

  • The en route 2025 actual service units (0.8M) were +8.0% higher than the determined service units (0.7M).

  • The en route 2025 actual total costs were +1.4M€2022 (+3.5%) higher than determined with all cost categories registering lower-than-planned costs, except exceptional items. This is mainly due to higher other operating costs (+0.8M€2022, or +16.8%) and cost of capital (+0.5M€2022, or +32.4%) for Slovenia Control. According to the NSA, the rise in other operating costs is due to the conclusion of more expensive contracts and unplanned costs, including training, upgrades and maintenance of the cybersecurity system, etc. The increase in cost of capital is due to changes in capital structure following debt repayment.

  • Slovenia Control costs of investments were 4.45M€2022 in 2025, +1.6% more than determined (4.38M€2022). According to the NSA, this increase is due to a higher cost of capital resulting from repayment of debt leading to a higher share of financing through equity, which is more costly than debt financing.

  • The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2025 was 58.65€ (-3.5% below the 2025 DUC). The difference between the AUCU and the DUC is mainly driven by the traffic adjustments.

En route charging zone

Unit cost (KPI#1)

Actual and determined data
Total costs - nominal (M€) 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Determined costs 45.0 46.3 47.7 49.0 49.6
Actual costs 46.5 NA NA NA NA
Difference costs 1.5 NA NA NA NA
Inflation assumptions 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Determined inflation rate 2.7% 2.1% 2.1% 2.1% 2.1%
Determined inflation index* 112.4 114.7 117.1 119.6 122.1
Actual inflation rate 2.5% NA NA NA NA
Actual inflation index* 112.1 NA NA NA NA
Difference inflation index (p.p.) -0.3 NA NA NA NA
*100 = 2022

AUC vs. DUC

In 2025, the en route AUC was -4.1% (or -2.28 €2022) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly higher than planned TSUs (+8.0%) and higher than planned en route costs in real terms (+3.5%, or +1.4 M€2022).

En route service units

The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+8.0%) 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 regulatory result).

En route costs by entity

Actual real en route costs are +3.5% (+1.4 M€2022) higher than planned. This is the result of higher costs for the main ANSP, Slovenia Control (+3.8%, or +1.4 M€2022) and the MET service provider (+11.9%, or +0.2 M€2022) and lower costs for the NSA/EUROCONTROL (-4.6%, or -0.1 M€2022).

En route costs for the main ANSP (Slovenia Control) at charging zone level

Based on the additional information to the en route reporting tables, the higher than planned en route costs in real terms for Slovenia Control in 2025 (+3.8%, or +1.4 M€2022) result from:

  • Slightly higher than planned staff costs (+0.2%), mainly reflecting the impact of lower than planned inflation index (-0.3 p.p.) since costs in nominal terms were slightly below planned (-0.1%).

  • Significantly higher than planned other operating costs (+16.8%), mainly driven by higher prices under new contracts concluded in 2024–2025 and unplanned costs related to ATCO training abroad, cybersecurity upgrades and maintenance, PART-IS implementation, rising cybersecurity market prices, and external expert support for the documentation of certification processes.

  • Slightly lower than planned depreciation (-0.6%).

  • Significantly higher than planned cost of capital (+32.4%), entirely driven by a change in capital structure following the full repayment of long-term debt in 2025, which increased the equity financing share (from 60% to 86.5%) and the actual pre-tax WACC rate at 7.04% compared to the determined (6.21%).

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

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

“Costs in nominal terms were higher than determined by 3,3%, in real terms 3,5% higher than determined. Number of service units was 8,0% higher than planned, reason being higher number of IFR flights compared to STATFOR used for preparation of performance plan. This resulted in 4% lower actual unit cost for 2025.”

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:

“Operating costs 16.5% higher due to:

- the conclusion of new contracts in 2024 and 2025, following the expiration of previous agreements, with prices exceeding initially forecasted inflation levels.

- Unplanned costs incurred in 2025, including:

o Training of air traffic controllers abroad and related business trips costs,

o Costs related to upgrades and maintenance of the cybersecurity system and technical solutions related to the implementation of PART-IS requirements,

o Considerable increase of prices in cyber security domain due to significant demand,

o Expenses related to the external professional experts support in the preparation of technical documentation in certification processes.

Cost of capital is 32.4% higher than determined due to two changes against the values determined in the RP4 performance plan. The assumptions in the performance plan were based on then valid debt level, but Slovenia Control was able to fully repay its outstanding long-term debt during 2025 (closing balance EUR 0 at 31/12/2025, against EUR 5,604,969 at 31/12/2024). This resulted in an average debt of EUR 2,802,484 and an actual share of financing through equity of 86.5% (against 60% determined). The average interest on debts of 4.34% remained in line with the determined value. In accordance with paragraph 47 of the PRB Cost of Capital Guidelines (June 2024) and Articles 22(4) and 23 of Regulation (EU) 2019/317, the return on equity is kept equal to the determined rate of 7.46% pre-tax. The resulting actual pre-tax WACC for 2025 is 7.04%, compared to the determined 6.21%, with the difference driven entirely by the change in capital structure following debt repayment.”

Recommendations formulated by the NSA to the ANSP (Slovenia Control) to rectify the situation and actions taken by the ANSP

No information was provided in the NSA 2025 monitoring report.

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

AUCU components (€/SU) – 2025
€/SU
DUC 60.78
Inflation adjustment -0.12
Cost exempt from cost sharing 0.31
Traffic risk sharing adjustment -2.11
Traffic adjustment (costs not TRS) -0.49
Financial incentives 0.28
Modulation of charges 0.00
Cross-financing 0.00
Other revenues 0.00
Application of lower unit rate 0.00
Total adjustments -2.13
AUCU 58.65
AUCU vs. DUC -3.5%
Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2025 €'000 €/SU
New and existing investments 89.6 0.11
Competent authorities and qualified entities costs -117.8 -0.15
Eurocontrol costs -21.7 -0.03
Pension costs 0.0 0.00
Interest on loans 34.3 0.04
Changes in law 263.8 0.33
Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing 248.3 0.31

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 (58.65 €) is -3.5% lower than the nominal DUC (60.78 €). The difference between these two figures (-2.13 €/SU) is due to:

  • the negative inflation adjustment resulting from lower than planned inflation (-0.12 €/SU);

  • the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost sharing mechanism (+0.31 €/SU);

  • the deduction of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (-2.11 €/SU);

  • the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-0.49 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing; and,

  • the impact of financial incentives (+0.28 €/SU).

The share of the regulatory result (see next sub-section) in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 5.1%.

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)

Slovenia Control net gain/loss on activity in the Slovenia en route charging zone in 2025

Slovenia Control reported a net gain of +0.6 M€, as a combination of a loss of -1.1 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a gain of +1.5 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism and a gain of +0.2 M€ relating to financial incentives.

Slovenia Control 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 (+0.6 M€) and the actual RoE (+2.0 M€), amounts to +2.6 M€ (6.1% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 9.8%, which is higher than the 7.5% planned in the PP.