LFV Annual Report 2019 1
L F V 2019 DIRE C T OR S ’ REPOR T PERFORMANCE MA
NAGEMENT FOR INCREASED EFFICIENCY Within the EU, there is comprehensive regulation of air traffic services. The EU also defines long-term goals for flight safety, capacity and cost-efficiency. EU's regulation of air traffic services comprises, among other things, certification requirement, demands on technical harmonisation and formation of functional airspace blocks across national borders. The EU Commission also defines so-called performance plans with goals for flight safety, capacity, the environment and cost-effectiveness. The EU's performance plans have the purpose of: • Increasing capacity in the airspace and reducing delays • Maintaining or improving flight safety independently of traffic increases • Reduce costs for air traffic control • Reduce every flight's environmental impact. Goals are established for the various states and airspace blocks. For Sweden, the goals comprise en route and the terminal service at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. For the first reference period, RP1 2012–2014, LFV achieved all of its goals. For the second reference period, RP2 2015–2019, LFV achieved most of its goals. In 2019, LFV achieved its goals with the exception of environmental and costefficiency. The environmental goal is very challenging and the discrepancy is based on weather and military exercises. The cost-efficiency goal could not be achieved in 2019 due to increased costs in comparison with the defined plan for the second reference period. Reporting for RP2 is on pages 64–65. COST DEMANDS Route charges and terminal fees at Stockholm Arlanda Airport are regulated by the system. In addition to the air traffic service, en route that is determined at the control centers and corresponding infrastructure, the route charges finance flight information service and a substantial portion of the local air traffic that is carried out from the airports' control tower and terminal control stations. Altogether, these fees account for approximately 70 per cent of LFV's turnover. During RP2, 2015–2019, the goal was that the unit cost fixed price would be reduced by 17 per cent, or an average of 2.4 per cent per year. LFV was unable to achieve the goal for en route or the Arlanda terminal due to higher costs in comparison with the performance plan. A final reconciliation will take place in 2020. After having implemented a savings programme during the period of 2015–2019 for SEK 200 million, it became apparent that it is difficult to achieve further efficiency improvements. In addition, a major growth in traffic and increased demands on infrastructure entailed substantial needs for resources and increased costs. CAPACITY LFV's air traffic service achieved the lofty goals on accessibility and capacity with minimal delays during 2019. 99,3 per cent of flights en route in Swedish airspace took place without delays caused by the air traffic service. The greatest delays arose during the summer months, caused by weather, personnel shortages and technical disruptions. There was a shortage of air traffic controllers during the summer after about ten employees resigned to work abroad. The goal with respect to capacity for Arlanda terminals was also achieved in 2019. LFV's operative resource planning is based on the traffic forecasts that Eurocontrol provides for Swedish airspace. Instead of the increase that was forecast for 2019, air traffic decreased by 1.4 per cent. Capacity was maintained despite a shortage of air traffic controllers. The average delay in the Danish-Swedish airspace was 0.07 (0.04) minutes per flight, which is better than the EU's goal for the Danish-Swedish airspace, which was 0.09 (0.09) minutes per flight. REFERENCE PERIOD 3 In 2019, work on the next reference period, RP3 2020– 2024 has progressed. New regulations were enacted in December 2018. The new regulations include stricter control of investments and an increased possibility of taking local conditions into account. Documentation has been submitted to the Swedish Transport Agency and LFV has participated in the consultations that the Swedish Transport Agency has arranged. The EU has defined goals for RP3. Focus has been on addressing the major capacity problems in Europe. There are also requirements on cost reductions where EU's goals involve reduction of real costs during the period up to 2024 by an average of 1.9 per cent per year in comparison with the forecast unit costs for 2019 for Europe's air traffic service providers. The Swedish Transport Agency submitted a proposal for a Swedish performance plan in the autumn of 2019. The plan proposes Sweden's goals for air traffic safety and the environment in line with the goals proposed by the EU. With respect to capacity, the Swedish Transport Agency proposes that Sweden should achieve even higher goals from 2020–2022, whereas the last two years match the EU proposal. With respect to cost-efficiency, the plan Sweden proposes does not meet the established requirements, primarily in consideration of higher pension costs and the need for an increased initiative 16