ATM Cost-Effectiveness (ACE) benchmarking

The ACE benchmarking project analyses the cost-effectiveness and productivity of 38 European Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) in Europe. It examines both individual ANSPs and the Pan-European ATM/CNS system as a whole.

The ACE interactive dashboard allows you to access the latest available data and analysis provided in the ACE Benchmarking Reports prepared by the EUROCONTROL Performance Review Unit.

EUROCONTROL ATM Cost Effectiveness (ACE) Dashbaord
ACE interactive dashboard

High-level summary report on preliminary ACE data (December 2022 edition)

A new ACE cycle has started in July 2022, and a first summary report based on preliminary data (not fully validated) is now available.

In addition to high-level information on the Pan-European system revenues, costs and staff data, this report presents ANSPs ranking on several performance indicators including costs-effectiveness and ATCO-hour productivity. Specific financial indicators are also used to monitor potential cash and liquidity issues experienced by ANSPs because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the report provides an analysis of ANSPs capital expenditures in 2020 and 2021 and how these changed compared to their pre-crisis levels. You can access the report here.

€663

(-25.2% vs 2020)

ATM/CNS provision costs per composite flight-hour

€454

(-24.5% vs 2020)

Support costs per composite flight-hour

€125

(-8.5% vs 2020)

ATCO employment costs per ATCO-hour

0.6

(+24.8% vs 2020)

ATCO-hour productivity


  • ANSPs gate-to-gate revenues rose by +20.8% in 2021, however they remained -44.3% lower than in 2019.

  • Cost containment measures were implemented, and ATM/CNS provision costs fell by -€409M, mainly through reduced staff costs (-€222M) and lower non-staff operating costs (-€103M). When considering the savings already achieved in 2020, the cumulative decrease in ATM/CNS provision costs since 2019 is -8.8% (-€765M).

  • Many ANSPs contracted new loans to respond to liquidity issues. Short and long-term borrowings reached €5.9 billion in 2021, which is three times higher than in 2019.

  • After a drop of some -27.2% in 2020, capital expenditures rose by +5.8% in 2021. The situation at individual ANSP level is contrasted, and some ANSPs invested significantly more in 2020 and 2021 than in the preceding decade (on average per annum). More details will be provided in the forthcoming ACE report.


ACE 2020 Report

ACE 2020 Report

Executive summary

Main report

  1. Introduction
Main Chapters:
  1. Pan-European cost-effectiveness performance in 2020
  2. Trend analysis and COVID-19 impacts on cost-effectiveness
  3. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ANSPs financial situation
  4. Forward-looking cost-effectiveness (2021-2024)
  5. Summary of ANSPs individual cost-effectiveness performance
Annexes
  • ANNEX 1 – Status of ANSPs 2020 Annual Reports
  • ANNEX 2 – Performance indicators used for the comparison of ANSPs
  • ANNEX 3 – Performance ratios
  • ANNEX 4 – Exchange rates, inflation rates and purchasing power parities (PPPS) data
  • ANNEX 5 – Key data
  • ANNEX 6 – Performance indicators at FAB level
  • Glossary

ACE Handbook

ACE 2020 Report

Learn about the scope of the ACE analysis, the processes involved in the production of the report, the factors affecting performance and the indicators used in the ACE analysis.

ANSPs individual factsheets

Access information on ANSP institutional arrangements, corporate governance structure, historical developments of financial cost-effectiveness, comparison with peers and capital expenditures.


For feedback or questions please contact the PRU Support Team.