AUC vs. DUC
In 2025, the en route AUC was -7.6% (or -3.98 €2022) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly higher than planned TSUs (+5.1%) and lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-2.8%, or -3.3 M€2022).
En route service units
The difference between actual and planned TSUs (+5.1%) 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 -2.8% (-3.3 M€2022) lower than planned. This is the result of lower costs for the main ANSP, ENAIRE (-2.2%, or -1.9 M€2022), the other ANSP (EA (Canarias), -8.8%, or -1.3 M€2022) and the MET service provider (-2.8%, or -0.2 M€2022) and higher costs for the NSA/EUROCONTROL (+1.8%, or +0.1 M€2022).
En route costs for the main ANSP (ENAIRE) 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 ENAIRE in 2025 (-2.2%, or -1.9 M€2022) result from:
Lower than planned staff costs (-2.5%), mainly resulting from a “significant decrease in ”Other Staff Related Benefits”, due to lower-than-expected allocations to provisions related to the Special Active Reserve (RAE, see below for details) and, to a lesser extent, the Active Reserve (RA)” (as of the RP4 these provisions are treated as pension costs). This variation was only partly offset by a higher than expected (+2.5%) salary increase approved by the Government, higher ATCO costs due to the implementation of a new unilateral, non-consolidated incentive under the “Summer Plan 2025”, implemented to address higher than expected traffic levels and increased overtime requirements.
Significantly lower than planned other operating costs (-8.9%), reflecting a more efficient resource use and lower-than-expected expenditure across several operating categories, including certain professional services, communications, insurance and energy related items.
Higher than planned depreciation (+1.0%), explained by earlier than planned entry into service of some investments during 2025.
Higher than planned cost of capital (+3.8%), driven by higher average interest rate on debt, while the total cost base remained slightly below the determined level.
*According to ENAIRE, the reduction in staff costs associated with the RAE should not be interpreted as an efficiency gain, a cost-saving measure, or a positive deviation from ENAIRE’s 2025 planning. It results from the annual actuarial valuation of a long-term employment obligation, performed by an independent external actuarial firm, which led to a reduction in the estimated liability and, consequently, to a reversal of provisions recognised in previous years. Therefore, this decrease does not reflect any operational improvement, management decision, productivity gain, or cost-efficiency measure implemented by ENAIRE during 2025. It is a non-operational accounting adjustment arising from the reassessment of obligations generated in prior years and outside the scope of ENAIRE’s annual planning and performance.
Assessment of the actual performance in the charging zone reported by the NSA
The NSA of Spain provides the following overall assessment of the actual performance in 2025 at charging zone level:
“The reduction in costs is mainly due to widespread savings across the majority of the entities. In general, there have been decreases across all actual cost categories compared to the determined costs for the year 2025. For further details, please refer to the Additional Information file. The aforementioned savings result in a lower actual unit cost compared to the determined unit cost (DUC) for the year 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:
“A broad-based cost reduction is observed across all categories, including staff costs. This occurs even though the RP4 National Performance Plan assumed a 2.0% salary increase, and the most recent salary increase approved by the Government amounts to a 2.5% rise for public employees in 2025. However, the overall outcome shows a reduction driven by a significant decrease in other staff-related benefits at the ANSP ENAIRE. This is mainly due to lower-than-planned allocations to provisions related to the Special Active Reserve (RAE), introduced by National Law 26/2022 of 19 December.”
Recommendations formulated by the NSA to the ANSP (ENAIRE) to rectify the situation and actions taken by the ANSP
No information was provided in the NSA 2025 Monitoring Report.