Annual Monitoring Report RP3 - Croatia
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/764 of 13 April 2022
List of ACCs 1
Zagreb ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 0
<80’K 0
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) RP3 2.2%
Share of Union-wide en route costs RP3 1.3%
Share en route / terminal costs RP3 100% / 0%
En route charging zone(s)
Croatia
Terminal charging zone(s)
Main ANSP
• Croatia Control
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
–
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Actual IFR movements for Croatia grew on average by +5.2% per year between 2019 and 2024.
▪ Actual IFR movements grew faster than planned in the RP3 revised performance plan (+0.8% per year). Planned traffic for RP3 was based on a local forecast.
▪ Croatia reached the 2019 pre-pandemic traffic level in 2022.
▪ Actual en route service units for Croatia grew on average by +6.8% per year between 2019 and 2024.
▪ Actual service units grew faster than planned in the RP3 revised performance plan (+0.5% per year). Planned traffic for RP3 was based on a local forecast.
▪ A total of 10,286K actual service units were recorded over RP3, +25.2% above the aggregated planned value (8,218K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ In 2024, Croatia Control implemented the improvements needed in Safety Risk Management to achieve the RP3 targets.
▪ Croatia recorded a lower level of runway incursions (RIs) compared to 2023. The rate of separation minima infringements (SMIs) increased compared to 2023.
▪ Croatia monitored safety performance using specific safety tools, including the automated safety data recording systems for the recording of SMIs and RIs at Zagreb Airport.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Environmental performance in Croatia deteriorated during RP3. KEA increased from 1.47% in 2020 to 1.56% in 2024.
▪ Croatia achieved the KEA target in two years of RP3, in 2020 and 2021, during the low-traffic Covid-19 period.
▪ The NSA noted that the main factors contributed to KEA deteriorating during the period were airline route adjustment due to restrictions within congested airspace and adverse weather conditions.
▪ KEP remained stable, while SCR deteriorated from 1.52% to 1.70% during RP3.
▪ Croatia has no airports regulated under the performance and charging scheme.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Croatia accumulated a total of 2,174,832 en-route ATFM delay minutes within the RP3 timeframe, reaching the highest level of total delay minutes generated in 2024. During RP3, Croatia accounted for 3.95% of the total delays at Union level. Compared to RP2, total delay minutes increased by 67%.
▪ Croatia met its en-route ATFM delay targets in 2020 and 2021, and failed to meet them in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
▪ In RP3, the main drivers of en-route ATFM delays in Croatia were Weather (52%) and ATC capacity (44%).
▪ Over RP3, 47% of delayed flights in Croatia experienced delays longer than 15 minutes, representing an increase of 7 percentage points compared to RP2.
▪ In Croatia, the total number of ATCOs in OPS over the RP3 period decreased by 3 FTEs, representing a 3% decrease compared to 2019. Croatia fell short of the planned ATCO numbers by 17 FTEs by the end of RP3.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ Over RP3, the en route actual unit cost of Croatia was lower than the determined unit cost for each year of the reference period. The second half of the reference period has been marked by increased traffic caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, resulting in lower actual unit costs. Total actual SUs were +25% higher than determined over the period.
▪ En route actual total cost for RP3 (404M€2017) were lower than determined (by -28M€2017, or -6.4%. The difference in total costs is mainly driven by lower staff costs (-15M€2017, or -6.0%) recorded by Croatia Control. However, in nominal terms, the actual staff costs show an increase of +4.4% compared to the determined figures. According to the NSA, this difference is due to higher than planned traffic and the adjustment of labour expenses to partially align with inflation trends.
▪ The total RP3 en route regulatory result for Croatia Control amounted to 63M€. This is +41M€ higher than the ex-ante regulatory result. The difference is mainly attributable to the application of the cost-sharing mechanism resulting from the positive inflation adjustment due to higher than planned inflation. The regulatory result amounted to 14% of the total en route revenues, while the ex-ante regulatory result amounted to 5.2% of the total planned en route revenues.
▪ Croatia should ensure that any excessive regulatory result, including excess funds received by the ANSP due to the inflation mechanism, is either reinvested to improve the quality of services delivered to airspace users or reimbursed to them.