Central Route Charges Office (CRCO)Report on the Operation of the Route Charges System in 2018

FOUNDINGMEMBER

2018SYSTEM REPORT

EUROCONTROL/CRCO in numbers - Highlights in 2018 4

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN 2018 6

1. Contracting States of the EUROCONTROL Route Charges System 6

2. Key indicators 6

3. Operations of the CRCO 7

4. Bilateral agreements with EUROCONTROL Member States 8

5. Bilateral agreements relating to air navigation charges 8

UNIT RATES 9

1. 2018 cost-bases and national basic unit rates 9

2. Weighted national basic unit rate 10

CHANGES IN ACTUAL COSTS OF EN ROUTE SERVICES 11

TRAFFIC STATISTICS 12

1. Total service units – growth rate 12

2. Total actual service units – totals per charging zone 13

3. Service units - exempted flights 14

4. Distances 15

OPERATIONAL STATISTICS 16

1. Flights processed – growth rate 16

2. Total number of flight segments 17

3. Recovery rates 18

4. The CRCO’s productivity 18

FINANCIAL STATISTICS 20

1. Amounts billed for flights performed in 2018 20

2. Amounts billed and disbursed to the States 21

3. VAT billed and disbursed to the States 22

ORIGIN OF TRAFFIC AND RECEIPTS 23

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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20182017201620152014

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1 Belgium 15 Cyprus 29 Moldova

2 Luxembourg 16 Hungary 30 Finland

3 Germany 17 Norway 31 Albania

4 France 18 Denmark 32 Bosnia and Herzegovina

5 United Kingdom 19 Slovenia 33 Serbia

6 Netherlands 20 Czech Republic 34 Montenegro

7 Ireland 21 Sweden 35 Lithuania

8 Switzerland 22 Italy 36 Poland

9 Portugal 23 Slovak Republic 37 Armenia

10 Austria 24 Romania 38 Latvia

11 Spain 25 Croatia 39 Georgia

12 Greece 26 Bulgaria 40 Estonia

13 Turkey 27 Monaco

14 Malta 28 North Macedonia

Key indicators 2017 2018 Variation2018/2017

Flight messages processed in millions   10.5 10.9 3.7%

Total service units in millions 153.0 162.5 6.2%

National charges billed in EUR millions 8,004 8,090 1.1%

Total net amounts disbursed in EUR millions 7,942 8,074 1.7%

Interest on late payment disbursed in EUR millions 2.9 2.4 -16.9%

Average long-term recovery rate 99.76% 99.80% 0.04%

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN 2018

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1. Contracting States of the EUROCONTROL Route Charges System

In 2018, 40 States participated in the Route Charges System

2. Key indicators

The CRCO key indicators are presented in the table below. Details can be found in the relevant sections of the report.

Table 1 – States participating in the Route Charges System in 2018

Table 2 – Key Indicators 2017-2018

Billing 2017 2018

Number of bills issued for en route 42,855 43,794

Number of different airspace users billed at least once a year 6,504 6,664

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3. Operations of the CRCO

The CRCO operates the Route Charges System on behalf of the Contracting States. Aircraft operators are charged a single amount per flight, irrespective of the number of States overflown. Bills are established by the CRCO, using flight messages sent by the Contracting States’ Route Charges Offices (RCOs) and additional flight information made available via the EUROCONTROL Network Manager Directorate (NMD). The CRCO bills aircraft operators on a monthly basis, collects charges and disburses the amounts collected to the States every week.

During the 12 months of 2018, the CRCO counted 15,279 correctly claimed flights, which amounted to 0.14% of the total number of flights processed during this period. The average time processing a claim for which information was requested from Member States was 47 days.

• Collection of charges

The interest rate applicable on late payment was 9.74% per annum in 2018. The average long-term recovery rate for the period 2014-2018 was 99.8%.

• CEFA (CRCO Extranet For Airspace Users) and DATALINK services

The billing information published on CEFA increased from 94% to 95% of flights over the last two years. In 2018, 293 new CEFA agreements were signed.

• ETNA (Extranet To National Administrations)

The ETNA service is available to all Contracting States of the Multilateral Route Charges System and to non-Member States which have a bilateral agreement with EUROCONTROL/CRCO. There are currently 135 accounts (three accounts per State: CAA, RCO and ANSP). In the month of December 2018, 21,000 pages were recorded as consulted by ETNA users. A standardised set of billing reports that allow ETNA users to easily retrieve the information they need was deployed since July 2018 reducing considerably the number of reports published each month.

• Fraud

The CRCO continues to monitor and raise the awareness of airspace users of the current risks relating to fraud attempts against them. CEFA has proven to be a reliable tool for preventing potential fraud, allowing airspace users to cross-check their billing documents on a secured Internet site. In addition, airspace users are now being invited to send the fraudulent email they have received to the EUROCONTROL Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for the purpose of analysis and investigation.

• Facility for payments by credit card

In 2018, 627 users used the credit card facility in 6,172 approved transactions amounting to EUR 6.07 million. In 2017, there were 616 users with 6,197 transactions amounting to EUR 6.55 million.

Table 3 – Operations of the CRCO – Billing

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4. Bilateral agreements with EUROCONTROL Member States

• Billing and collection of terminal charges

In 2018, EUROCONTROL operated seventeen bilateral agreements relating to terminal charges with France (billing only), the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Moldova, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Sweden, Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Malta, Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia. Any EUROCONTROL Member State may avail of terminal charge billing and col-lection services. By using the same data and tools for en route and terminal charges, the CRCO can offer billing and collection services for terminal charges at marginal costs to States and air navigation service providers. Moreover, claims submitted by users in relation to both types of charge are processed in a single, coherent operation.

• Billing and collection of Shanwick communications charges

EUROCONTROL bills and collects Shanwick communications charges in respect of flights carried out in the Shanwick Oceanic Region on behalf of the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). In 2017 the CRCO modernised the application supporting the billing of Shanwick communications charges. The new application successfully entered into operation on 1 January 2018.

5. Bilateral agreements relating to air navigation charges

In 2018, EUROCONTROL operated three bilateral agreements relating to air navigation charges with three non-Member States and one comprehensive State, namely Belarus, Uzbekistan, Egypt and Morocco. Air navigation charges comprise route charges and, optionally, terminal charges. In 2018, terminal charges were billed on behalf of Belarus and Egypt.

Bilateral agreements Terminal  charges (TNC) Communications  charges  Air navigation charges (ANC)

Number of bills issued  73,188 7,576 16,728

Number of different airspace users 5,468 1,667 2,136

Amounts billed EUR millions 698 22 322

Number of flights  3,905,053 499,205 1,098,316

Table 4 – Bilateral Agreements

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1. 2018 cost-bases and national basic unit rates

The national unit rates were calculated in accordance with the common “Principles for establishing the cost-base for en route charges and the calculation of the unit rates”. Table 5 sets out the cost-bases and national unit rates for 2018 as established by States (average September 2017 exchange rates).

Table 5 – Cost-bases and national unit rates for 2018

Source: WP CER-109-2017 

Note: (1) The Unit Rate of Serbia / Montenegro / KFOR was revised with effect from 01 September 2018.

Decision N°152. The initial national Unit Rate was EUR 32.62. 

UNIT RATES

 Charging zones National Costs Costs chargeable to users Service units National unit rates

 Belgium-Luxembourg 180,556,020 179,293,003 2,650,000 67.66 Germany  927,369,907 888,150,703 13,242,000 67.07 France 1,341,857,080 1,282,582,670 20,204,000 63.48 United Kingdom 763,329,634 721,312,693 10,758,000 67.05 Netherlands 194,302,268 178,737,025 3,045,000 58.70 Ireland 129,491,400 115,867,000 4,184,878 27.69 Switzerland 144,213,482 149,235,463 1,512,889 98.64 Portugal Lisboa 124,427,807 115,929,531 3,147,209 36.84 Austria 211,364,000 208,914,323 2,928,000 71.35 Spain-Continental 627,925,632 634,738,453 9,128,000 69.54 Spain-Canarias 98,729,180 87,004,827 1,537,000 56.61 Portugal  Santa Maria 47,797,424 41,835,406 4,455,301 9.39 Greece 157,439,780 141,388,699 4,492,622 31.47 Turkey 432,207,897 437,512,275 16,310,498 26.82 Malta 21,720,523 14,820,868 933,000 15.89 Italy  710,883,664 764,129,928 9,553,591 79.98 Cyprus 57,610,277 52,045,334 1,489,197 34.95 Hungary 98,660,581 80,125,399 2,453,639 32.66 Norway  114,126,372 113,665,819 2,499,967 45.47 Denmark 101,772,000 95,860,100 1,608,000 59.61 Slovenia 34,392,801 32,691,904 529,770 61.71 Romania 159,936,613 140,233,870 4,317,155 32.48 Czech Republic  121,591,653 115,694,371 2,795,000 41.39 Sweden 206,121,981 199,679,015 3,383,000 59.02 Slovak Republic  66,330,093 64,418,685 1,250,000 51.53 Croatia 92,125,221 83,433,684 1,863,185 44.78 Bulgaria 116,751,528 96,039,412 3,611,824 26.59 North Macedonia 15,556,141 15,540,652 301,000 51.63 Moldova 3,996,799 3,996,799 70,400 56.77 Finland 46,660,000 46,187,228 843,000 54.79 Albania 23,167,433 22,899,388 467,500 48.98 Bosnia and Herzegovina  41,896,506 42,530,228 1,048,900 40.55 Serbia / Montenegro / KFOR (1) 82,215,273 73,932,710 2,440,423 30.30 Lithuania  25,093,574 23,612,902 541,672 43.59 Poland  197,839,800 188,017,564 4,419,000 42.55 Armenia  5,220,724 5,214,670 174,797 29.83 Latvia 24,692,818 23,815,911 867,000 27.47 Georgia 18,814,016 18,997,565 866,227 21.93 Estonia 27,072,898 24,511,580 855,350 28.66

 Total 7,795,260,798 7,524,597,656 146,777,994 51.27

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2. Weighted national basic unit rate

The weighted average national basic unit rate for the Contracting States is calculated by dividing the sum of the costs chargeable to users by the service units for the same year. The weighted average national basic unit rate for 2018 was EUR 51.27, see Table 5.

Graph 1 – Weighted average national basic unit rate

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CHANGES IN ACTUAL COSTS OF EN ROUTE SERVICESTable 6 shows the actual costs incurred by States in the provision of en route services in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The States’ actual costs were converted into euros using the annual average exchange rates and are set out in Table 6 below. The States’ shares of EUROCONTROL costs are included.

Charging zones 2015 2016 2017 Variation 2016/2015

Variation 2017/2016

 Belgium-Luxembourg 160,753,284 166,388,324 178,362,008 3.5% 7.2% Germany 998,129,209 961,086,891 864,811,310 -3.7% -10.0% France (1) 1,239,579,250 1,256,601,408 1,287,147,413 1.4% 2.4% United Kingdom 905,229,191 813,673,210 754,181,377 -10.1% -7.3% Netherlands 175,440,319 187,949,589 190,515,536 7.1% 1.4% Ireland 106,784,766 108,670,638 113,911,000 1.8% 4.8% Switzerland (2) 150,370,167 138,175,449 162,658,664 -8.1% 17.7% Portugal Lisboa 110,975,595 112,678,540 124,561,665 1.5% 10.5% Austria 178,768,396 186,679,605 188,772,461 4.4% 1.1% Spain-Continental 594,240,394 591,361,095 588,328,640 -0.5% -0.5% Spain-Canarias 98,836,636 95,856,862 92,382,599 -3.0% -3.6% Portugal Santa Maria 40,360,900 39,260,760 44,000,686 -2.7% 12.1% Greece 146,050,899 141,132,309 119,731,966 -3.4% -15.2% Turkey 374,896,476 416,752,247 397,600,269 11.2% -4.6% Malta 16,845,837 18,130,096 20,442,642 7.6% 12.8% Italy 644,872,816 637,727,794 629,970,988 -1.1% -1.2% Cyprus 51,048,657 49,919,678 47,510,052 -2.2% -4.8% Hungary 86,459,381 88,831,293 95,444,510 2.7% 7.4% Norway 108,302,276 100,394,895 114,799,264 -7.3% 14.3% Denmark 97,602,571 94,650,828 93,411,740 -3.0% -1.3% Slovenia 31,147,499 32,468,008 31,829,020 4.2% -2.0% Romania 151,648,364 162,269,755 170,090,103 7.0% 4.8% Czech Republic 105,035,165 114,534,427 124,902,593 9.0% 9.1% Sweden 306,004,999 222,220,213 237,312,669 -27.4% 6.8% Slovak Republic 57,581,991 59,229,009 61,406,001 2.9% 3.7% Croatia 84,694,017 85,650,981 87,659,617 1.1% 2.3% Bulgaria 88,930,091 91,522,130 99,601,086 2.9% 8.8% North Macedonia 13,701,810 13,763,370 13,747,729 0.4% -0.1% Moldova 4,520,630 3,381,982 3,837,777 -25.2% 13.5% Finland 45,235,400 45,686,269 42,506,385 1.0% -7.0% Albania 21,967,591 22,275,875 23,531,438 1.4% 5.6% Bosnia and Herzegovina 33,984,505 36,908,277 40,102,329 8.6% 8.7% Serbia / Montenegro / KFOR 81,718,201 77,058,340 83,062,442 -5.7% 7.8% Lithuania 23,121,075 22,775,398 23,808,929 -1.5% 4.5% Poland 147,715,500 150,036,493 185,642,513 1.6% 23.7% Armenia 4,786,755 4,752,990 5,159,145 -0.7% 8.5% Latvia 21,182,494 21,047,181 21,282,423 -0.6% 1.1% Georgia 17,813,827 18,802,442 19,059,434 5.5% 1.4%

 Subtotal 7,526,336,936 7,390,304,651 7,383,086,425 -1.8% -0.1%

 Estonia 21,999,000 24,199,188 10.0%

 Total 7,526,336,936 7,412,303,651 7,407,285,613 -1.5% -0.1%

Table 6 – En route services – actual costs

Source: 2017 actual figures WP CER-111-2018 

Note: (1) Including Jersey and Geneva 

(2) Excluding Geneva (France)

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TRAFFIC STATISTICS1. Total service units – growth rate

For a given flight and a given charging zone, the route charge is equal to the number of service units multiplied by the unit rate. The number of service units is equal to the weight factor (i.e. the square root of the MTOW divided by 50) multiplied by the distance factor (i.e. the number of kilometres in the great circle distance between the entry and exit points at which the route indicated in the last filed flight plan crosses the charging zone boundary divided by one hundred).

Over the past three years, the growth rate in the total number of service units was as follows:

The total service units amounted to 162.5 million in 2018. There was an increase of 6.2% between 2017 and 2018.

Year Service units Variation

2016 143,439,296 4.2%   

2017 153,007,694 6.7%   

2018 162,511,953 6.2%   

Table 7 – Total service units

Graph 2 – Total service units 2014-2018

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2. Total actual service units – totals per charging zone

Table 8 gives, for each charging zone, the total number of service units (chargeable and exempted) generated from 2014 to 2018, as well as the average annual variation observed during the same period.

Charging zones 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Variation 2018/2017

Variation (2) 2014-2018

 Belgium-Luxembourg 2,362,038 2,454,178 2,499,996 2,593,652 2,643,568 1.9% 2.9% Germany (1) 12,880,783 12,976,261 13,561,501 14,374,175 14,989,181 4.3% 3.9% France 18,496,754 18,867,771 19,882,659 20,862,129 21,449,867 2.8% 3.8% United Kingdom 9,979,403 10,153,907 10,874,798 11,767,621 12,194,153 3.6% 5.1% Netherlands 2,767,312 2,892,654 3,099,952 3,223,221 3,392,469 5.3% 5.2% Ireland 3,922,499 4,182,450 4,467,595 4,465,253 4,549,883 1.9% 3.8% Switzerland 1,427,068 1,454,786 1,493,182 1,603,674 1,741,384 8.6% 5.1% Portugal Lisboa 3,019,611 3,150,186 3,509,556 3,777,024 3,855,541 2.1% 6.3% Austria 2,645,392 2,739,285 2,749,863 2,973,819 3,198,238 7.5% 4.9% Spain-Continental 8,767,769 8,997,417 9,761,348 10,440,757 11,058,991 5.9% 6.0% Spain-Canarias 1,491,781 1,402,349 1,484,755 1,602,003 1,788,036 11.6% 4.6% Portugal Santa Maria 4,166,099 4,661,620 5,039,640 5,308,501 5,504,172 3.7% 7.2% Greece 4,617,799 4,898,818 4,678,399 5,158,194 5,600,105 8.6% 4.9% Turkey 12,808,849 14,181,607 14,374,452 15,888,906 17,460,167 9.9% 8.1% Malta 727,375 823,344 905,497 915,945 934,710 2.0% 6.5% Italy 8,313,546 8,171,509 8,301,990 8,631,816 9,433,866 9.3% 3.2% Cyprus 1,454,224 1,547,646 1,540,071 1,727,958 1,897,492 9.8% 6.9% Hungary 2,406,153 2,695,133 2,788,496 2,973,195 3,235,675 8.8% 7.7% Norway 2,220,734 2,313,891 2,495,164 2,526,846 2,522,273 -0.2% 3.2% Denmark 1,532,003 1,583,445 1,621,145 1,665,678 1,709,063 2.6% 2.8% Slovenia 459,206 466,264 501,752 524,771 571,894 9.0% 5.6% Romania 4,181,845 4,570,684 4,442,936 4,756,852 5,100,776 7.2% 5.1% Czech Republic 2,393,408 2,531,815 2,737,003 2,823,895 3,041,481 7.7% 6.2% Sweden 3,284,841 3,354,938 3,401,901 3,615,171 3,812,797 5.5% 3.8% Slovak Republic 1,044,343 1,071,382 1,138,250 1,189,020 1,296,243 9.0% 5.6% Croatia 1,760,424 1,790,210 1,787,992 1,799,166 1,993,898 10.8% 3.2% Bulgaria 2,743,606 3,222,750 3,412,754 3,513,254 3,937,596 12.1% 9.5% North Macedonia 246,466 263,988 249,929 300,537 336,455 12.0% 8.1% Moldova 131,067 73,816 59,855 68,990 82,955 20.2% -10.8% Finland 795,764 760,383 763,829 848,430 940,208 10.8% 4.3% Albania 468,799 484,426 442,280 453,737 480,627 5.9% 0.6% Bosnia and Herzegovina

782,870 870,175 866,281 1,020,313 1,083,229 6.2% 8.5%

 Armenia  142,478 125,671 111,239 178,052 223,712 25.6% 11.9% Serbia / Montenegro / KFOR

1,751,706 1,974,864 2,130,658 2,240,900 2,518,094 12.4% 9.5%

 Poland 3,930,688 3,880,013 4,174,735 4,290,520 4,666,097 8.8% 4.4% Lithuania 487,217 492,283 507,472 540,776 602,689 11.4% 5.5% Latvia 766,861 801,836 789,087 877,214 938,372 7.0% 5.2% Georgia 751,536 805,195 791,282 806,695 806,198 -0.1% 1.8% Subtotal 132,130,315 137,688,952 143,439,296 152,328,658 161,592,158 6.1% 5.2% Estonia (3) 679,036 919,795

 Total 132,130,315 137,688,952 143,439,296 153,007,694 162,511,953 6.2% 5.3%

Table 8 – Total number of service units generated

2018 service units: situation at 15/1/19

(1) Includes 57,600 service units for flight segments performed in 2018 as Operational Air Traffic 

(2) Average annual variation during the period 2014-2018

(3) No comparison between figures recorded for 2018 and 2017, Estonia integrated as of 1 April 2017

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3. Service units - exempted flights

Table 9 details the number of service units generated in each charging zone in 2018. For any given charging zone, the number of chargeable service units (column 8) is the difference between the total service units (column 1) and the service units generated in respect of exempted flights (column 7).

EXEMPTED FLIGHTS

Charging zonesTotal service

units Military Heads of state <2 T Circular Other

Total exemptions

(2) to (6)

Chargeable service units

(1) - (7)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

 Belgium-Luxembourg 2,643,568 11,814 2,081 1,080 442 212 15,630 2,627,939 Germany (1) 14,989,181 93,891 9,788 14,428 85 1,211 119,404 14,869,777 France 21,449,867 140,643 7,717 13,861 9,386 5,530 177,136 21,272,731 United Kingdom 12,194,153 127,746 2,676 3,213 4,472 948 139,055 12,055,098 Netherlands 3,392,469 29,386 878 1,479 888 114 32,745 3,359,724 Ireland 4,549,883 38,483 562 137 815 247 40,244 4,509,638 Switzerland 1,741,384 874 1,061 1,214 6 359 3,514 1,737,870 Portugal Lisboa 3,855,541 25,205 933 148 1,922 241 28,449 3,827,092 Austria 3,198,238 8,171 2,413 1,980 35 339 12,938 3,185,301 Spain-Continental 11,058,991 66,879 4,163 1,813 4,944 1,968 79,767 10,979,224 Spain-Canarias 1,788,036 10,965 1,145 111 115 579 12,914 1,775,122 Portugal Santa Maria 5,504,172 75,091 2,148 45 143 87 77,515 5,426,658 Greece 5,600,105 84,031 3,617 562 253 331 88,794 5,511,312 Turkey 17,460,167 91,595 11,267 91 965 992 104,910 17,355,257 Malta 934,710 32,596 531 76 42 657 33,902 900,809 Italy 9,433,866 127,207 6,450 2,435 2,606 1,580 140,277 9,293,589 Cyprus 1,897,492 21,956 642 207 78 9 22,892 1,874,600 Hungary 3,235,675 25,914 2,312 336 389 60 29,011 3,206,664 Norway 2,522,273 16,772 567 146 1,022 3,617 22,124 2,500,150 Denmark 1,709,063 8,915 599 686 1,030 218 11,450 1,697,614 Slovenia 571,894 999 217 412 56 43 1,727 570,168 Romania 5,100,776 37,248 3,463 253 493 112 41,569 5,059,207 Czech Republic 3,041,481 33,951 1,510 1,505 11 131 37,108 3,004,372 Sweden 3,812,797 13,083 1,472 1,646 2,785 384 19,370 3,793,428 Slovak Republic 1,296,243 10,911 926 323 3 18 12,181 1,284,063 Croatia 1,993,898 2,455 757 606 266 135 4,220 1,989,678 Bulgaria 3,937,596 29,801 2,093 67 221 124 32,306 3,905,290 North Macedonia 336,455 0 146 24 58 2 230 336,225 Moldova 82,955 14 26 18 17 14 89 82,866 Finland 940,208 1,226 379 849 584 430 3,469 936,739 Albania 480,627 1,790 235 47 41 12 2,125 478,502 Bosnia and Herze-govina

1,083,229 344 376 123 142 14 998 1,082,232

 Armenia  223,712 0 112 3 3 1 118 223,593 Serbia / Montenegro / KFOR

2,518,094 380 1,228 170 321 105 2,204 2,515,890

 Poland 4,666,097 27,687 3,941 2,025 11 274 33,939 4,632,158 Lithuania 602,689 3,390 295 156 9 0 3,850 598,840 Latvia 938,372 5,975 258 92 32 12 6,369 932,003 Georgia 806,198 6,813 1,035 13 0 0 7,861 798,337 Estonia 919,795 870 330 172 245 6 1,624 918,171

 Total 162,511,953 1,215,071 80,347 52,556 34,936 21,114 1,404,024 161,107,929

Table 9 – Service units generated in respect of exempted flights

2018 service units: situation at 15/1/19

(1) Includes 57,600 service units for flight segments performed in 2018 as Operational Air Traffic. 

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4. Distances

Table 10 sets out the number of kilometres recorded in the airspace of the Contracting States from 2014 to 2018 for the calcula-tion of route charges (great circle distance after deduction of 20 km for departing and arriving flights) as well as the average annual variation observed during the same period.

Charging zones 2014(in '000 km)

2015(in ‘000 km)

2016(in ‘000 km)

2017(in ‘000 km)

2018(in ‘000 km)

Variation2018/2017  

Variation (1)  2014-2018

 Belgium-Luxembourg 174,775 180,829 183,217 189,290 193,020 2.0% 2.5% Germany 989,707 994,499 1,029,273 1,086,972 1,130,289 4.0% 3.4% France 1,489,471 1,513,661 1,593,675 1,672,706 1,713,936 2.5% 3.6% United Kingdom 705,892 720,095 767,752 820,975 837,779 2.0% 4.4% Netherlands 202,182 212,513 225,933 231,921 242,103 4.4% 4.6% Ireland 196,782 208,723 223,814 224,108 225,642 0.7% 3.5% Switzerland 120,120 121,441 123,991 133,827 143,701 7.4% 4.6% Portugal Lisboa 215,769 225,654 251,952 272,294 276,866 1.7% 6.4% Austria 201,737 204,413 203,907 219,197 235,453 7.4% 3.9% Spain-Continental 707,133 724,852 779,654 834,751 881,193 5.6% 5.7% Spain-Canarias 101,444 97,621 105,813 114,009 123,982 8.7% 5.1% Portugal Santa Maria 195,865 217,342 235,986 251,388 259,301 3.1% 7.3% Greece 331,647 343,936 328,289 364,043 400,645 10.1% 4.8% Turkey 789,467 856,434 853,219 932,938 1,020,962 9.4% 6.6% Malta 41,248 45,847 49,227 50,227 52,427 4.4% 6.2% Italy 670,894 659,797 670,677 696,828 752,656 8.0% 2.9% Cyprus 104,342 108,976 109,299 122,738 135,814 10.7% 6.8% Hungary 158,497 173,415 178,428 188,605 207,371 9.9% 7.0% Norway 172,070 172,978 180,691 182,405 182,531 0.1% 1.5% Denmark 119,784 122,958 124,579 127,492 130,352 2.2% 2.1% Slovenia 36,537 36,889 38,777 40,845 44,366 8.6% 5.0% Romania 251,460 265,847 257,408 273,993 298,121 8.8% 4.3% Czech Republic 166,654 176,757 188,853 192,847 207,681 7.7% 5.7% Sweden 256,709 257,907 260,730 275,671 287,197 4.2% 2.8% Slovak Republic 71,859 72,076 75,920 78,810 86,331 9.5% 4.7% Croatia 130,939 132,532 130,984 133,638 147,619 10.5% 3.0% Bulgaria 174,214 200,558 205,298 208,174 232,649 11.8% 7.5% North Macedonia 19,227 20,307 19,239 22,945 25,883 12.8% 7.7% Moldova 9,446 6,284 5,296 6,013 7,122 18.4% -6.8% Finland 57,957 55,233 54,448 59,212 65,361 10.4% 3.1% Albania 33,271 34,211 31,136 32,294 34,146 5.7% 0.7% Bosnia and Herzegovina 58,806 64,478 63,354 74,204 78,524 5.8% 7.5% Armenia  8,596 7,226 6,553 9,979 12,593 26.2% 10.0% Serbia / Montenegro / KFOR 132,867 148,956 158,311 166,310 185,519 11.6% 8.7% Poland 289,308 287,834 306,448 316,308 343,928 8.7% 4.4% Lithuania 35,640 35,424 36,203 38,663 43,507 12.5% 5.1% Latvia 53,691 55,016 54,075 59,393 63,020 6.1% 4.1% Georgia  39,512  41,049 40,643 41,561 41,988 1.0% 1.5%

 Subtotal 9,515,522 9,804,567 10,153,054 10,747,574 11,351,576 5.6% 4.5%

 Estonia (2) 41,327  55,775 

 Total 9,515,522 9,804,567 10,153,054 10,788,901 11,407,351 5.7% 4.6%

Table 10 – Total distance per charging zone

2018 distances: situation at 15/1/19

(1) Average annual variation during the period 2014-2018.

(2) No comparison between figures recorded for 2018 and 2017, Estonia integrated as of 1 April 2017.

16

OPERATIONAL STATISTICS1. Flights processed – growth rate

The number of flight messages processed corresponds to the number of flights (whether chargeable or exempted) recorded for charging purposes in the airspace of the Contracting States. Over the past three years, the annual variation in the number of flights was as follows:

Year Flights processed Variation

2016 10,086,833 2.6%   

2017 10,471,610 3.8%   

2018 10,863,136 3.7%   

Table 11 – Number of flights processed

Graph 3 – Flight messages processed 2014-2018

8,5

9,0

9,5

10,0

10,5

11,0

20182017201620152014

17

2. Total number of flight segments

In total number of flight segments per charging zone, as recorded in the airspace of the Contracting States from 2014 to 2018, is shown in Table 12 below.

Charging zones 2014 (1) 2015 (1) 2016 (1) 2017 (1) 2018 (1) Variation2018/2017  

Variation (2)  2014-2018

 Belgium-Luxembourg 1,153,758 1,185,259 1,210,996 1,257,779 1,290,521 2.6% 2.8% Germany 3,120,260 3,176,783 3,250,531 3,363,274 3,505,665 4.2% 3.0% France 2,931,631 2,972,867 3,105,659 3,218,599 3,305,272 2.7% 3.0% United Kingdom 2,241,077 2,302,757 2,433,124 2,522,226 2,545,698 0.9% 3.2% Netherlands 1,140,612 1,190,787 1,256,290 1,307,768 1,353,945 3.5% 4.4% Ireland 542,636 565,507 608,514 619,054 633,708 2.4% 4.0% Switzerland 1,080,738 1,096,015 1,106,339 1,167,928 1,226,561 5.0% 3.2% Portugal Lisboa 479,444 504,502 558,382 611,779 633,422 3.5% 7.2% Austria 1,176,107 1,191,081 1,196,511 1,256,220 1,320,444 5.1% 2.9% Spain-Continental 1,589,254 1,650,041 1,776,693 1,890,023 1,978,184 4.7% 5.6% Spain-Canarias 281,206 280,655 310,401 332,507 355,475 6.9% 6.0% Portugal Santa Maria 127,902 137,991 152,884 163,791 168,989 3.2% 7.2% Greece 668,849 704,482 692,624 742,165 825,916 11.3% 5.4% Turkey 1,284,150 1,370,796 1,344,913 1,429,139 1,551,454 8.6% 4.8% Malta 100,115 100,064 107,359 115,057 125,416 9.0% 5.8% Italy 1,700,232 1,731,027 1,769,555 1,821,083 1,927,043 5.8% 3.2% Cyprus 300,352 314,504 317,715 354,957 389,208 9.6% 6.7% Hungary 676,389 755,221 790,277 838,010 919,822 9.8% 8.0% Norway 558,974 552,436 556,408 553,186 552,163 -0.2% -0.3% Denmark 625,682 635,099 646,765 654,566 677,181 3.5% 2.0% Slovenia 346,570 345,126 350,809 384,020 419,385 9.2% 4.9% Romania 594,139 630,903 614,236 667,410 729,287 9.3% 5.3% Czech Republic 712,278 759,800 810,139 829,405 891,256 7.5% 5.8% Sweden 783,173 790,692 804,263 835,773 863,283 3.3% 2.5% Slovak Republic 433,965 465,436 494,963 512,319 563,309 10.0% 6.7% Croatia 525,193 539,433 545,540 588,059 643,973 9.5% 5.2% Bulgaria 682,258 766,175 757,285 783,295 870,543 11.1% 6.3% North Macedonia 150,219 158,878 154,164 180,129 201,713 12.0% 7.6% Moldova 55,636 45,139 40,928 47,904 52,422 9.4% -1.5% Finland 250,657 244,391 242,413 259,586 280,985 8.2% 2.9% Albania 197,458 201,198 185,794 191,578 201,659 5.3% 0.5% Bosnia and Herzegovina 284,670 305,674 318,407 368,606 398,473 8.1% 8.8% Armenia  50,231 42,086 38,921 54,495 67,713 24.3% 7.8% Serbia / Montenegro / KFOR 550,079 600,077 614,004 646,051 705,334 9.2% 6.4% Poland 698,558 699,518 751,642 786,883 866,066 10.1% 5.5% Lithuania 224,580 224,848 228,322 240,233 263,356 9.6% 4.1% Latvia 241,551 243,458 245,348 266,852 290,743 9.0% 4.7% Georgia  114,098  121,919 125,769 142,058 152,120 7.1% 7.5%

 Subtotal 28,674,681 29,602,625 30,514,887 32,003,767 33,747,707 5.4% 4.2%

 Estonia (3) 169,656  230,989

 Total flight segments 28,674,681 29,602,625 30,514,887 32,173,423 33,978,696 5.6% 4.3%

Table 12 – Flight segments

2018 flight segments situation at 15/1/19

(1) Excluding VFR flight segments, representing 0.16% of the total flight segments processed. The impact of VFR flights on total distances, service units and charges is negligible. 53,248 VFR flights processed in 2018, of which  16,179 were performed in Ital ian airspace and 10,173 in Spanish airspace (Continental - 8,227 and Canaries - 1,946).

(2) Average annual variation during the period 2014-2018.

(3) No comparison between figures recorded for 2018 and 2017, Estonia integrated as of 1 April 2017.

18 18

3. Recovery rates

• Long-term recovery rates

The long-term recovery rate reflects the trend performance of the CRCO. The graph below also shows the annual recovery rates for the period 2014-2018. The average long-term recovery rate for the period 2014-2018 was 99.8%.

Graph 4 –Long-term recovery rate

Graph 5 – Evolution of some CRCO key figures in 2014-2018 (index: 2013=100)

4. The CRCO’s productivity

• Evolution of key figures

The productivity of the CRCO is clearly demonstrated in the graph below. It shows the evolution of the number of flight messages processed, the long term recovery rate and the administrative unit rate.

The CRCO 2018 administrative unit rate has significantly increased further to the Agency-wide implementation, as from 1st January 2018, of the Agency Cost Allocation Method (CAM), shifting costs from Part I of the Agency Budget to Part II CRCO (maintenance, building, security, Finance, HR and DG services,...) and including the impact of the tax compensation for pensions and the ancillary benefits of staff previously assigned to the CRCO.

99,40%

99,55%

99,70%

99,85%

100,00%

20182017201620152014

99.80% 99.79%

99.89%

99.79%

99.67%

40

60

80

100

120

20182017201620152014

19

744

Table 13 – Ratios between the CRCO’s actual net costs and service units/amounts billed

• CRCO’s actual costs compared with service units/amounts billed

The table below shows the ratios between the CRCO’s actual net costs (route charge collection costs under the Multilateral System net of receipts from bilateral agreements and excluding carry overs) and service units/amounts billed. The increase of the 2018 costs is due to the aforementioned CAM.

YearCRCO costs

(EUR millions)Service units

(millions)Cost per service

unit (2) / (3)Amounts billed (EUR millions)

Ratio %(2)/ (5)

1 2 3 3 5 6

2014 15.7 132.13 0.12 7,495 0.21%

2015 14.4 137.69 0.10 7,989 0.18%

2016 15.2 143.44 0.11 7,924 0.19%

2017 16.8 153.01 0.11 8,015 0.21%

2018 19.3 162.51 0.12 8,111 0.24%

20 20

FINANCIAL STATISTICS1. Amounts billed for flights performed in 2018

The amounts billed to airspace users for flights performed between January and December 2018 totalled about EUR 8.1 billion (see Tables 14 and 15). This represents an increase of 1.2 % over 2017. Amounts billed exclude value added tax (VAT), amounting to EUR 18.4 million, billed on behalf of twenty-three VAT-taxable air navigation service providers in the Contracting States (see Table 16).

Table 14 – Amounts billed for flights performed in 2016-2018

Graph 6 – Amounts billed for flights carried out in 2014-2018

Year Amounts billed (EUR) Variation rate

2016 7,924,384,821 -0.8%

2017 8,014,714,394 1.1%

2018 8,111,213,017 1.2%

6,0

6,5

7,0

7,5

8,0

8,5

20182017201620152014

21

2. Amounts billed and disbursed to the States

Table 15 shows the total amounts billed in euros for flights performed in 2018 and the amounts disbursed in euros to the Con-tracting States in 2018.

Charging zones Amounts billed (1) Net amount disbursed (2)

 Belgium-Luxembourg 178,147,566 177,023,746 Germany 999,248,982 993,945,222 France 1,353,158,422 1,350,992,766 United Kingdom 819,779,357 816,285,685 Netherlands 197,652,672 199,102,571 Ireland 125,458,440 125,982,123 Switzerland 169,898,331 167,808,535 Portugal Lisboa 141,487,646 141,978,990 Austria 227,685,316 225,358,270 Spain-Continental 764,922,839 754,932,834 Spain-Canarias 100,720,483 98,634,349 Portugal Santa Maria 51,661,772 51,050,087 Greece 174,157,508 169,911,502 Turkey 353,830,405 358,962,103 Malta 14,430,947 14,430,933 Italy 744,509,363 744,849,760 Cyprus 65,760,964 64,532,553 Hungary 101,813,436 102,224,217 Norway 110,772,603 111,524,861 Denmark 101,255,159 100,532,774 Slovenia 35,259,139 34,821,892 Romania 163,093,008 161,836,029 Czech Republic 126,850,547 126,088,032 Sweden 208,969,141 209,234,109 Slovak Republic 66,334,624 65,717,157 Croatia 89,864,213 88,774,191 Bulgaria 104,349,571 102,417,364 North Macedonia 17,404,633 16,977,183 Moldova 5,001,192 4,843,124 Finland 51,445,584 50,508,321 Albania 24,598,492 24,128,909 Bosnia and Herzegovina 44,015,037 43,923,192 Serbia / Montenengro / KFOR 76,920,409 77,634,883 Poland 198,358,833 196,556,427 Lithuania 26,181,353 25,862,463 Armenia 6,687,170 6,434,731 Latvia 25,723,285 25,307,844 Georgia  17,370,472 17,136,380 Estonia 26,434,103 25,973,725

 Total 8,111,213,017 8,074,239,838

 National charges (all States) Administrative charges (all States)

8,090,268,53420,944,484

Table 15 – Amounts billed and disbursed to the States in 2018

(1) 2018 amounts billed: situation at 15/1/19

(2) 2018 amounts disbursed: balance sheet and administrative (operating results) accounts financial year 2018

22

3. VAT billed and disbursed to the States

Table 16 shows the total amounts of VAT billed in euros for flights performed in 2018 and the amounts disbursed in euros in 2018 to the 23 VAT-taxable air navigation service providers of the Contracting States, which apply VAT to route charges.

Charging zones  VAT billed (1) VAT disbursed (2)

 Germany 1,411,639 1,456,607 United Kingdom 4,300,379 3,976,177 Ireland 191,259 182,335 Switzerland 36,979 36,348 Austria 258,603 354,396 Continantal Spain 2,032,157 1,829,799 Spain - Canaries 224,796 235,209 Norway 8,529,549 8,629,859 Denmark 125,423 110,666 Slovenia 47,551 40,408 Romania 291,033 255,378 Czech Republic 125,183 122,593 Slovak Republic 83,785 83,448 Croatia 108,931 135,511 Bulgaria 170,593 153,409 Moldova 30 27 Finland 71,316 66,495 Armenia (3) 17 0 Poland 270,520 271,214 Lithuania 17,970 17,846 Latvia 47,194 35,654 Georgia 4,586 2,439 Estonia 68,031 58,998

 Total 18,417,526 18,054,816

Table 16 – VAT billed and disbursed to the Contracting States in 2018

(1) 2018 amounts billed: situation at 15/1/19

(2) 2018 amounts disbursed: balance sheet and administrative (operating results) accounts financial year 2018

(3) VAT billed as of  1/11/2018

23 23

Table 17 shows the percentage of chargeable service units and route charges recorded for all the Contracting States in 2018, by user state of registration. Contracting States’ national users accounted for 72% of the total number of chargeable service units and for 77% of the total route charges billed.

User state of registration Chargeable service units Route charges billed

 Belgium 1.5% 1.7% Luxembourg 0.6% 0.6% Germany 9.2% 10.4% France 4.8% 5.2% United Kingdom 12.6% 14.2% Netherlands 3.3% 3.5% Ireland 8.9% 10.9% Switzerland 2.0% 2.3% Portugal Lisboa 1.7% 1.7% Austria 1.2% 1.3% Spain 4.9% 5.3% Greece 0.9% 0.8% Turkey 7.9% 5.2% Malta 0.4% 0.5% Italy 1.7% 2.2% Cyprus 0.1% 0.1% Hungary 1.9% 1.9% Norway 1.2% 1.3% Denmark 0.7% 0.8% Slovenia 0.1% 0.1% Romania 0.6% 0.6% Czech Republic 0.6% 0.6% Sweden 2.0% 2.2% Slovak Republic 0.0% 0.0% Croatia 0.1% 0.1% Bulgaria 0.2% 0.2% North Macedonia 0.0% 0.0% Moldova 0.2% 0.1% Finland 0.9% 0.9% Albania 0.0% 0.0% Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.0% 0.0% Armenia  0.0% 0.0% Serbia  0.2% 0.2% Montenegro 0.0% 0.0% Poland 1.1% 1.1% Lithuania 0.1% 0.1% Latvia 0.3% 0.3% Georgia 0.1% 0.0% Estonia 0.1% 0.1%

Total Participating States 72.2% 76.6%

 USA 3.8% 3.7% Others 24.0% 19.8%

Total all nationalities 100.0% 100.0%

Total European Union 60.6% 67.3%

Table 17 – Total percentage of chargeable service units and route charges billed in 2018 by user state of registration

ORIGIN OF TRAFFIC AND RECEIPTS

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