Cost-efficiency - Switzerland

PRB monitoring

The en route 2025 actual unit cost of Switzerland was 142.39€2022, +5.7% higher than the determined unit cost (134.75€2022). The terminal 2025 actual unit cost was 470.51€2022, +1.2% higher than the determined unit cost (464.93€2022).
The en route 2025 actual service units (1.8M) were -6.8% lower than the determined service units (1.9M).
The en route 2025 actual total costs were -3.8M€2022 (-1.5%) lower than determined. This is mainly due to lower other operating costs for Skyguide (-3.8M€2022, or -7.2%). The NSA explained that the decrease in other operating costs resulted from saving measures implemented in response to the drop of traffic.
Skyguide spent 44.0M€2022 in 2025 related to costs of investments for both en route and terminal charging zones, +1.9% more than determined (43.2M€2022). This increase is mainly due to higher depreciation costs of terminal.
The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2025 was 154.90€ (+4.0% above the 2025 DUC), while the terminal actual unit cost incurred by users was 513.20€ (-0.2% below the 2025 DUC). The difference between the AUCU and the DUC for the en route charging zone is mainly driven by the adjustment for traffic risk sharing.

En route charging zone

Unit cost (KPI#1)

Total costs - nominal (M€)	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
Actual and determined data
Determined costs	261.6	272.8	273.7	274.4	262.2
Actual costs	257.3	NA	NA	NA	NA
Difference costs	-4.2	NA	NA	NA	NA

Inflation assumptions	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
Determined inflation rate	0.2%	0.5%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%
Determined inflation index*	103.7	104.2	104.8	105.6	106.3
Actual inflation rate	0.1%	NA	NA	NA	NA
Actual inflation index*	103.5	NA	NA	NA	NA
Difference inflation index (p.p.)	-0.1	NA	NA	NA	NA
*100 = 2022

Focus on unit cost

AUC vs. DUC

In 2025, the en route AUC was +5.7% (or +7.68 CHF2022, +7.64 €2022) higher than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly lower than planned TSUs (-6.8%) and lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-1.5%, or -3.8 MCHF2022, -3.8 M€2022).

En route service units

The difference between actual and planned TSUs (-6.8%) 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 -1.5% (-3.8 M€2022) lower than planned. This is the result of lower costs for the main ANSP, Skyguide (-1.9%, or -4.4 M€2022) and higher costs for the MET service provider (+0.4%, or +0.04 M€2022) and the NSA/EUROCONTROL (+3.6%, or +0.6 M€2022).

En route costs for the main ANSP (Skyguide) 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 Skyguide in 2025 (-1.9%, or -4.4 M€2022) result from:

Slightly lower than planned staff costs (-0.2%), with salaries, social charges and other staff costs broadly in line with the Performance Plan.
Significantly lower than planned other operating costs (-7.2%), mainly due to lower purchased services and products, including external experts, maintenance, material and tools. This reflects the implementation of savings measures in response to the drop in traffic, mainly affecting support service expenses.
Slightly higher than planned depreciation (+0.4%), with depreciation of assets broadly in line with the Performance Plan.
Significantly lower than planned cost of capital (-5.6%), mainly due to a lower asset base.
Slightly higher than planned deduction for VFR exempted flights (+0.1%) reflecting the impact of the inflation index as the nominal amounts are in line with the plan.

It is understood that the costs for Skyguide are netted off by the financing received for activities outside of the Swiss FIR. This should be considered when interpreting the variation in costs detailed above.

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

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

“The +5.7% increase in actual unit costs relative to the DUC is primarily explained by a significant decline in traffic (-6.8%), exceeding the decrease in costs (-1.5% in real terms).”

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 costs in nominal terms are slightly lower than the determined costs from the Performance Plan by -1.6% (-4.3M CHF) and -1.5% in real terms (-3.8M CHF).

This variance is mainly driven by lower operating costs, in particular a reduction in support service expenses.

Indeed, some savings measures have been implemented over the year to partly compensate for the loss in revenue resulting from lower than forecasted traffic levels.”

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

No recommendation from the NSA or action from the ANSP is reported in the 2025 NSA Monitoring Report.

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

	€/SU
AUCU components (€/SU) – 2025
DUC	148.99
Inflation adjustment	-0.17
Cost exempt from cost sharing	0.20
Traffic risk sharing adjustment	4.84
Traffic adjustment (costs not TRS)	1.04
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	5.91
AUCU	154.90
AUCU vs. DUC	+ 4.0%

Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2025	€'000	€/SU
New and existing investments	-236.6	-0.13
Competent authorities and qualified entities costs	11.1	0.01
Eurocontrol costs	577.5	0.33
Pension costs	0.0	0.00
Interest on loans	0.0	0.00
Changes in law	0.0	0.00
Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing	351.9	0.20

Focus on AUCU

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 (145.09 CHF or 154.90 €) is +4.0% higher than the nominal DUC (139.55 CHF or 148.99 €) which includes DUC initially charged: 136.94 CHF (or 146.20 € ), and DUC to be charged retroactively: 2.61 CHF (or 2.78 €). The difference between the AUCU and the nominal DUC (+5.54 CHF/SU or +5.91 €/SU) is due to:

the negative inflation adjustment resulting from lower than planned inflation (-0.16 CHF/SU or -0.17 €/SU);
the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost sharing mechanism (+0.19 CHF/SU or +0.20 €/SU);
the addition of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (+4.54 CHF/SU or +4.84 €/SU); and,
the addition of the traffic adjustment (+0.98 CHF/SU or +1.04 €/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 1.2%.

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

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

“The performance of this PI is a direct result of the application of the requirements of the performance and charging regulation. There is no need to implement measures to improve performance.”

Regulatory result (RR)

Focus on regulatory result

Skyguide net gain/loss on activity in the Switzerland en route charging zone in 2025

Skyguide reported a net loss of -4.1 M€, as a combination of a gain of +4.6 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a loss of -8.7 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism.

Skyguide 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 (-4.1 M€) and the actual RoE (+7.4 M€), amounts to +3.3 M€ (1.3% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 4.0%, which is lower than the 9.9% planned in the PP.