Annual Monitoring Report RP3 - Cyprus
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/2422 of 5 December 2022
List of ACCs 1
Nicosia ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 0
<80’K 0
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) RP3 1.6%
Share of Union-wide en route costs RP3 0.9%
Share en route / terminal costs RP3 100% / 0%
En route charging zone(s)
Cyprus
Terminal charging zone(s)
Main ANSP
• DCAC Cyprus
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
• Department of Meteorology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Actual IFR movements for Cyprus fell on average by -1.6% per year between 2019 and 2024.
▪ In the RP3 revised performance plan IFR movements were forecasted to grow by +1.2% per year. Planned traffic was in line with the STATFOR June 2022 base forecast.
▪ Over RP3, IFR movements for Cyprus remained below the 2019 pre-pandemic level.
▪ Actual en route service units for Cyprus fell on average by -2.4% per year between 2019 and 2024.
▪ In the RP3 revised performance plan service units were forecasted to grow by +1.6% per year over the same period. Planned traffic was in line with the STATFOR June 2022 base forecast.
▪ A total of 7,809K actual service units were recorded over RP3, -6.1% below the aggregated planned value (8,320K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ Cyprus did not manage to improve sufficiently over RP3 and did not achieve the RP3 targets for two of the five Management Objectives. This most likely will cause challenges during RP4.
▪ Cyprus showed a low rate of runway incursions (RIs) over RP3. The numbers of separation minima infringements (SMIs) showed a notable increase in 2024, but the rate remained below the Union-wide average.
▪ Cyprus should ensure that the ANSP implements, in a timely and cost-efficient manner, the necessary additional measures such as enhanced processes, improved allocation of resources, targeted training, and systematic reviews. Without such actions, the achievement of the RP4 targets could be jeopardised.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Environmental performance in Cyprus deteriorated during RP3. KEA increased from 3.89% in 2020 to 5.43% in 2024.
▪ Cyprus achieved the KEA target in one year of RP3, in 2020, during the low-traffic Covid-19 period.
▪ The NSA noted that the main factor contributed to KEA deteriorating during the period was Cyprus´s inability to optimise traffic flows in the entirety of the Nicosia FIR.
▪ KEP remained stable, while SCR deteriorated from 5.66% to 6.20% during RP3.
▪ Cyprus has no airports regulated under the performance and charging scheme.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Cyprus accumulated a total of 51,149 en-route ATFM delay minutes within the RP3 timeframe, reaching the highest level of total delay minutes generated in 2020. During RP3, Cyprus accounted for 0.09% of the total delays at Union level. Compared to RP2, total delay minutes decreased by 98%.
▪ Cyprus met its en-route ATFM delay targets in each year of the RP3 reference period.
▪ In RP3, the main drivers of en-route ATFM delays in Cyprus were ATC capacity (67%) and ATC staffing (16%).
▪ Over RP3, 34% of delayed flights in Cyprus experienced delays longer than 15 minutes, representing a decrease of 17 percentage points compared to RP2.
▪ In Cyprus, the total number of ATCOs in OPS over the RP3 period increased by 23 FTEs, representing a 29% increase compared to 2019. Cyprus exceeded the planned ATCO numbers by 1 FTE by the end of RP3.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ Over RP3, the en route actual unit cost of Cyprus was lower than the determined unit cost for each year of the reference period. The last year of the reference period has been marked by reduced traffic caused by the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East, which significantly affects the traffic flows in Cyprus’ airspace.
▪ En route actual total costs for RP3 (268M€2017) were lower than determined (by -20M€2017, or -7.1%). The difference in total costs is mainly driven by lower other operating costs (-8.8M€2017, or -11%) recorded by DCAC Cyprus, as a result of lower-than-expected subscription costs associated with datalink, training costs associated with the transition to the new ACC, and communications, navigation and surveillance costs.
▪ The total RP3 en route regulatory result for DCAC Cyprus amounted to 19M€. This is +9.7M€ higher than the ex-ante regulatory result. The difference is mainly attributable to the application of the cost-sharing mechanism, due to a positive difference between determined and actual costs to be retained by the ANSP, as well as a positive inflation adjustment, and to the application of the traffic risk sharing mechanism, resulting from lower traffic than planned. The regulatory result amounted to 9.3% of the total en route revenues, while the ex-ante regulatory result amounted to 4.5% of the total planned en route revenues.
▪ Cyprus 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.