Annual Monitoring Report RP3 - Poland
Contextual information
National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2022/779 of 13 April 2022
List of ACCs 1
Warsaw ACC
No of airports in the scope of the performance plan
≥80’K 1
<80’K 14
Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) RP3 3.2%
Share of Union-wide en route costs RP3 2.9%
Share en route / terminal costs RP3 81% / 19%
En route charging zone(s)
Poland
Terminal charging zone(s)
Poland EPWA
Poland Others
Main ANSP
• PANSA
Other ANSPs
• Warmia i Mazury sp. z o.o.
• Port Lotniczy Bydgoszcz S.A.
MET Providers
• Institute of Meteorology and Water Management - National Research Institute (IMWM)
• Radom Meteo sp. z o.o.
Traffic (En route traffic zone)
▪ Actual IFR movements for Poland fell on average by -3.6% per year between 2019 and 2024.
▪ In the RP3 revised performance plan IFR movements were forecasted to remain stable (+0.2%per year). Planned traffic was in line with the STATFOR October 2021 base forecast.
▪ Over RP3, IFR movements for Poland remained below the 2019 pre-pandemic level.
▪ Actual en route service units for Poland fell on average by -5.1% per year between 2019 and 2024.
▪ In the RP3 revised performance plan service units were forecasted to increase by +0.6%per year. Planned traffic was in line with the STATFOR October 2021 base forecast.
▪ A total of 15,222K actual service units were recorded over RP3, -18.1% below the aggregated planned value (18,579K).
Safety (Main ANSP)
▪ PANSA exceeded the RP3 targets in 2022 and successfully maintained those performance levels. In 2024, PANSA adopted a revised approach to self-assessment by relying on evidence from non-collaborative sources. This methodological shift resulted in the degradation of 16 questions to maturity level C. Despite this, PANSA continued to achieve RP3 targets. PANSA remains committed to enhancing its safety function and continues to implement improvements, in line with its safety management system strategy established in 2024.
▪ Port Lotniczy Bydgoszcz S.A. improved in the area of Safety Risk Management in 2024, achieving the RP3 targets for all management objectives.
▪ Warmia i Mazury sp. z o.o. achieved its RP3 EoSM targets levels already in 2022 and maintained these levels through the remaining years of the period.
▪ Poland recorded a significant increase in the rates of runway incursions (RIs) and separation minima infringements (SMIs) in 2024 at a Member State level.
Environment (Member State)
▪ Environmental performance in Poland deteriorated during RP3. KEA increased from 1.67% in 2020 to 4.49% in 2024 with a peak of 4.79% in 2022.
▪ Poland achieved the KEA target in one year of RP3, in 2020, during the low-traffic Covid-19 period.
▪ The NSA noted that the main factors contributed to KEA deteriorating during the period were the external factors linked to the geopolitical situation (Belarus and Ukraine) leading to airspace closure, route extensions and increased military activities, and weather conditions.
▪ KEP deteriorated from 3.07% to 6.37% and SCR deteriorated from 2.42% to 6.01% during RP3.
▪ The share of CDO flights deteriorated from 51.32% to 43.99% during RP3.
▪ Additional taxi out time deteriorated from 1.99 to 2.78 min/flight and additional time in terminal airspace deteriorated from 1.21 to 1.33 min/flight during RP3.
Capacity (Member State)
▪ Poland accumulated a total of 1,010,005 en-route ATFM delay minutes within the RP3 timeframe, reaching the highest level of total delay minutes generated in 2022. During RP3, Poland accounted for 1.83% of the total delays at Union level. Compared to RP2, total delay minutes increased by 22%.
▪ Poland 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 Poland were ATC staffing (39%) and Other, non-ATC causes (35%).
▪ Over RP3, 41% of delayed flights in Poland experienced delays longer than 15 minutes, representing an increase of 5 percentage points compared to RP2.
▪ In Poland, the total number of ATCOs in OPS over the RP3 period decreased by 2 FTEs, representing an 1% decrease compared to 2019. Poland fell short of the planned ATCO numbers by 21 FTEs by the end of RP3.
▪ Poland accumulated a total of 168,265 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 decreased by 24%.
▪ In RP3, the leading drivers of arrival ATFM delays in Poland were other non-ATC related causes and Weather, representing 63% and 17% of total delay minutes.
Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))
▪ In the first half of the RP3 period, the en route actual unit costs for Poland were significantly lower than the determined unit costs mainly driven by lower costs than planned. However, after 2021, the unit costs were significantly higher than expected, mainly because traffic levels were significantly lower than anticipated.
▪ The en route actual total costs for RP3 (858M€2017) were lower than determined (by -72M€2017, or -7.8%). The reduction in total costs is mainly driven by lower staff costs (-42M€2017, or -8.1%) recorded by PANSA.
▪ The total RP3 en route regulatory result for PANSA amounted to 84M€. This is +41M higher than the ex-ante regulatory result. The difference is mainly attributable to the positive inflation adjustment due to higher than planned inflation. The regulatory result amounted to 9.2% of the total planned en route revenues, while the ex-ante regulatory result amounted to 5.0% of the total planned en route revenues.
▪ In the first half of the RP3 period, the terminal zone 1 (EPWA) actual unit costs of Poland were significantly lower than the determined unit costs mainly because costs were notably lower than determined. After 2021, however, the unit costs were higher than expected. In 2022, this was due to lower-than-expected traffic levels, while in 2023 and 2024, it was driven by higher costs.
▪ Throughout the RP3 period, the terminal zone 2 actual unit costs of Poland costs were notably lower than the determined unit costs, except in 2024. The consistently higher than determined traffic levels support these observations. In 2024 total costs were significantly higher than expected, offsetting the impact of increased traffic and resulting in unit costs that exceeded expectations.
▪ The terminal zone 1 actual total costs for RP3 (48M€2017) were lower than determined (by -1.5M€2017, or -3.0%), whereas the terminal zone 2 actual total costs for RP3 (157M€2017) were higher than determined (by +6.9M€2017, or +4.6%). The reduction in total costs in zone 1 is mainly driven by lower other operating costs (-1.6M€2017, or -24%). The increase in total costs in zone 2 is mainly driven by higher staff costs (6.2M€2017, or +8.1%).
▪ The total RP3 terminal zone 1 regulatory result for PANSA amounted to 2.6M€. This is +0.8M higher than the ex-ante regulatory result. The difference is mainly attributable to the positive inflation adjustment due to higher than planned inflation. The regulatory result amounted to 4.8% of the total planned en route revenues, while the ex-ante regulatory result amounted to 3.6% of the total planned en route revenues. The total RP3 terminal zone 2 regulatory result for PANSA amounted to -1.4M€. The loss is mainly attributable to the negative difference between determined and actual costs to be borne by the ANSP.
▪ Poland’s RP3 performance plan included justifications for a deviation to achieve the RP3 capacity targets. The main measures included recruiting of new ATCOs. Poland has not submitted a detailed report of the capacity-related measures implemented. However, the number of ATCOs in operation at the end of RP3 is below the plan. Poland should reimburse to airspace users the excess funds received by ANSPs for measures not implemented.
▪ Poland 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.