1  Introduction

The ACE benchmarking work is commissioned by the Performance Review Commission (PRC) and carried out by the EUROCONTROL Performance Review Unit (PRU) using information provided by Air Navigation Services Providers (ANSPs) in compliance with Decision No. 88 of the Permanent Commission of EUROCONTROL on economic information disclosure1.

The data processing, analysis and reporting are conducted with the assistance of the ACE Working Group, which comprises representatives from participating ANSPs, airspace users, regulatory authorities and the Performance Review Unit. This enables participants to share experiences and establish a common understanding of underlying assumptions and data limitations.

The objective of this document is to provide a first insight on the level of 2022 cost-effectiveness performance both for the Pan-European system and for individual ANSPs before the release of the final ACE benchmarking report, which is planned end of May 2024. Economic information disclosure by ANSPs takes time as it is depending on the publication of their audited financial statements, which can be a lengthy process. This document also presents specific financial indicators, extracted from the ANSPs Financial Indicators Dashboard, that can be used to monitor potential cash and liquidity issues experienced by ANSPs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The final ACE benchmarking report will provide more detailed information on observed changes for selected performance indicators both at pan-European system level and at ANSP level. This detailed analysis will particularly focus on ANSPs for which significant differences in costs are observed. The report will present the main drivers underlying these differences.

In addition, a new theme will be developed, examining the potential impact of different regulatory, institutional, and corporate governance setups on ANSPs economic performance. While acknowledging that there are many different factors influencing the conduct of organisations (see the ACE Handbook for a comprehensive overview of endogenous and exogenous factors affecting performance), the forthcoming ACE report will provide new analysis considering differences in the legal status, ownership, and decision-making arrangements among ANSPs.

Figure 1.1 illustrates the timeline to produce the next ACE benchmarking report.

Figure 1.1: Timeline to produce the next ACE benchmarking report

It is important that robust ACE benchmarking analysis is available in a timely manner since several stakeholders, most notably ANSPs’ management, regulatory authorities (e.g. NSAs) and airspace users, have a keen interest in receiving the information in the ACE reports as early as possible.

Seventeen out of 38 ANSPs submitted their ACE 2022 data on time by the 1st of July 2023 and, all data submissions were received by the end of August 2023. Overall, this constitutes a major improvement compared to previous years. Clearly, the timescale to produce the ACE benchmarking report is inevitably delayed if data are not submitted on time.

It should be noted that the data presented in this document are still preliminary and not yet fully validated. Indeed, the data submission milestone is just the first step of a process which comprises a thorough verification and analysis of individual ANSP submissions. This validation exercise also includes a formal round of exchange between the PRU and each ANSP in order to ensure a common understanding of the data submitted by the ANSP.

The data used in this document reflects the information stored in the ACE database on the 5th December 2023. Figure 1.2 shows the status of the ACE data validation process for the data presented in this document.

Albcontrol
(Albania)

DCAC Cyprus ✔️
(Cyprus)

HASP ✔️
(Greece)

M-NAV
(North Macedonia)

ROMATSA ✔️
(Romania)

ANS CR ✔️
(Czech Republic)

DFS ✔️
(Germany)

HungaroControl
(Hungary)

MOLDATSA ✔️
(Moldova)

Sakaeronavigatsia ✔️
(Georgia)

ARMATS
(Armenia)

DHMI ✔️
(Türkiye)

IAA ✔️
(Ireland)

MUAC ✔️
(EUROCONTROL)

skeyes
(Belgium)

Austro Control ✔️
(Austria)

DSNA ✔️
(France)

LFV
(Sweden)

NATS (Continental) ✔️
(United Kingdom)

Skyguide
(Switzerland)

Avinor (Continental) ✔️
(Norway)

EANS
(Estonia)

LGS ✔️
(Latvia)

NAV Portugal (Continental)
(Portugal)

Slovenia Control ✔️
(Slovenia)

BHANSA ✔️
(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

ENAIRE ✔️
(Spain)

LPS
(Slovakia)

NAVIAIR ✔️
(Denmark)

SMATSA
(Serbia/Montenegro)

BULATSA
(Bulgaria)

ENAV ✔️
(Italy)

LVNL
(Netherlands)

Oro Navigacija
(Lithuania)

Croatia Control
(Croatia)

Fintraffic ANS
(Finland)

MATS
(Malta)

PANSA
(Poland)
✔️ Data submission has been reviewed
Figure 1.2: Status of 2022 data validation process

The data contained in this report is therefore subject to changes before the release of the final ACE 2022 benchmarking report in May 2024.

The remainder of this report is structured as follows:

  1. Due to the on-going war in Ukraine, UkSATSE has been excluded from the ACE analysis.↩︎