EUROCONTROL Performance Review Commission issues its latest ATM Cost-Effectiveness Benchmarking Report

The EUROCONTROL Performance Review Commission (PRC) has published its sixteenth ATM Cost-Effectiveness (ACE) Benchmarking Report. This report provides invaluable insights into the cost-effectiveness and productivity of 38 European Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) in 2016, the latest year for which actual financial data are available, based on information submitted in July 2017.

The ACE Report also examines changes in ANSPs cost-effectiveness over 2011-2016 with a strong focus on the underlying performance drivers such as Air Traffic Controllers’ productivity, employment costs and support costs. It also provides an outlook of the performance planned over the five year cycle covering 2017-2021. This year, the ACE 2016 Benchmarking Report includes a new chapter examining ANSPs balance-sheet structure and capital expenditure, which also comprises high level information on the FDP systems that are operated by the European ANSPs.

“The ACE 2016 Benchmarking Report shows that at pan-European system level, over the 2011-2016 period, ANSP costs remained fairly constant in a context of traffic growth, resulting in cost-effectiveness performance improvements. On the other hand, when considering an economic costs perspective (combining ANSPs' costs and ATFM delays), it appears that a significant part of these cost-effectiveness improvements were offset by a new cycle of continuously higher ATFM delays which started in 2014.

It is important that in future years ANSPs continue to manage their costs carefully but, at the same time, they shall make sure that they provide sufficient ATC capacity to minimise delays to the travelling public.” says Mr Ralph Riedle, PRC Chairman.

Mr Riedle added that, in response to stakeholders’ requests, the PRU has developed an interactive web-based dashboard comprising ACE data since 2002. This dashboard allows its users to make customised analysis of ANSP cost-effectiveness performance; it comprises additional features as proposed by ANSPs and has just been updated to reflect the latest 2016 data. All interested stakeholders are strongly encouraged to use this information which is publicly available.

For further information on the ACE 2016 Benchmarking Report please contact Mr Sébastien Portet (EUROCONTROL Performance Review Unit).

To download the report, please click here.