Annual Monitoring Report RP3 - Greece
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/2421 of 5 December 2022
List of ACCs 2
Athens ACC
Makedonia ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 1
<80’K 0
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) RP3 5.9%
Share of Union-wide en route costs RP3 2.4%
Share en route / terminal costs RP3 89% / 11%
En route charging zone(s)
Greece
Terminal charging zone(s)
Greece
Main ANSP
• HASP
Other ANSPs
–
MET Providers
• HNMS
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Actual IFR movements for Greece grew on average by +4.0% per year between 2019 and 2024.
▪ In the RP3 revised performance plan IFR movements were forecasted to remain stable (-0.1%per year). Planned traffic was in line with the STATFOR June 2022 base forecast.
▪ Greece reached the 2019 pre-pandemic traffic level in 2022.
▪ Actual en route service units for Greece grew on average by +5.1% per year between 2019 and 2024.
▪ Actual service units grew faster than planned in the RP3 revised performance plan (+2.5% per year). Planned traffic was in line with the STATFOR June 2022 base forecast.
▪ A total of 28,229K actual service units were recorded over RP3, +8.4% above the aggregated planned value (26,030K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ HASP planned to reach maturity level D for Safety Risk Management in 2024 to achieve the RP3 targets, however HASP only achieved level C.
▪ Greece recorded an increase in the rate of separation minima infringements (SMIs) and a marginally lower rate of runway incursions (RIs) in 2024 compared to 2023.
▪ In 2024, HASP implemented enhancements to its occurrence reporting and investigation processes, incorporating the Bow Tie methodology. These improvements are expected to significantly strengthen the ability to identify contributing factors and systematically develop effective risk mitigation measures aimed at preventing future occurrences.
▪ Greece 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)
▪ En route environmental performance in Greece improved during RP3. KEA decreased from 2.51% in 2020 to 2.19% in 2024.
▪ Greece didn´t achieve the KEA target in any year of RP3.
▪ The NSA noted that the main factors contributed not being met the KEA target during the period were military activity, adverse weather phenomena and high levels of traffic above STATFOR forecast.
▪ KEP improved from 3.78% to 3.20% and SCR improved from 3.16% to 2.90% during RP3.
▪ The share of CDO flights deteriorated from 57.42% to 46.42% during RP3.
▪ Additional taxi out time deteriorated from 1.54 to 2.95 min/flight and additional time in terminal airspace deteriorated from 1.03 to 1.55 min/flight during RP3.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Greece accumulated a total of 2,263,108 en-route ATFM delay minutes within the RP3 timeframe, reaching the highest level of total delay minutes generated in 2024. During RP3, Greece accounted for 4.11% of the total delays at Union level. Compared to RP2, total delay minutes increased by 115%.
▪ Greece met its en-route ATFM delay target in 2020, and failed to meet them in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
▪ In RP3, the main driver of en-route ATFM delays in Greece was ATC staffing, accounting for 75% of total delay minutes.
▪ Over RP3, 48% of delayed flights in Greece experienced delays longer than 15 minutes, representing a decrease of 6 percentage points compared to RP2.
▪ In Greece, the total number of ATCOs in OPS over the RP3 period decreased by 39 FTEs, representing a 18% decrease compared to 2019. Greece fell short of the planned ATCO numbers by 110 FTEs by the end of RP3.
▪ Greece accumulated a total of 1,137,559 arrival ATFM delay minutes within the RP3 timeframe, reaching the highest level of total delay minutes generated in 2024. Compared to RP2, total terminal delay minutes increased by 79%.
▪ In RP3, the leading drivers of arrival ATFM delays in Greece were ATC Capacity and ATC Disruptions, representing 63% and 28% of total delay minutes.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ Over RP3, the en route actual unit cost of Greece was lower than the determined unit cost for each year of the period , due to higher traffic and lower costs than planned.
▪ En route actual total cost for RP3 (716M€2017) were lower than determined (by -89M€2017, or -11%). The difference in total costs is mainly driven by lower staff costs (-60M€2017, or -11%) recorded by HASP. As stated by the NSA, this is the result of the evolution of traffic, but the explanations provided are not sufficient.
▪ The total RP3 en route regulatory result for HASP amounted to 86M€. This is +77M€ 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 the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation. The regulatory result amounted to 12% of the total en route revenues, while the ex-ante regulatory result amounted to 1.3% of the total planned en route revenues.
▪ Over RP3, the terminal actual unit cost of Greece was lower than determined for each year of the period, mainly due to lower costs than expected.
▪ Terminal actual total costs for RP3 (92M€2017) were lower than determined (by -12M€2017, or -12%). This is mainly driven by HASP lower staff costs (-7.8M€2017, or -11%) than planned. As stated by the NSA, this is the result of the evolution of traffic, but the explanations provided are not sufficient.
▪ The total RP3 terminal regulatory result for HASP amounted to 11M€, or 9.9% of total revenues. This is +9.6M€ higher than the ex-ante regulatory result (1.1M€ or 1.0% of the terminal revenues). As for en route, the difference is mainly attributable to the application of the cost sharing mechanism.
▪ Greece should take immediate, adequate, and proportionate action to implement the relevant ATCO and investment plans committed to in the RP3 performance plan and to provide the ANSP with the necessary means to implement the planned actions both in respect of decisional and budgetary procedures.
▪ Greece 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.