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.
In addition to the publication of interim and final annual reports, an interactive dashboard containing the whole ACE data (2002-2023) has been developed. It enables the aviation community to build customised views on ANSPs economic performance.
Latest ACE benchmarking report (May 2025 edition)
This report analyses ANSPs’ cost-effectiveness performance in a context marked by the traffic recovery following the shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to the previous years, it provides a more detailed analysis of economic cost-effectiveness, which deteriorated in 2023 for several ANSPs.
€460
(-7.4% vs 2022)
ATM/CNS provision costs per composite flight-hour
€308
(-8% vs 2022)
Support costs per composite flight-hour
€142
(+2.1% vs 2022)
ATCO employment costs per ATCO-hour
0.93
(+8.9% vs 2022)
ATCO-hour productivity
Traffic (measured in composite flight-hours) rose by +11.1% in 2023 but remained -3.7% lower than in 2019. At ANSP level, a wide range of different trends is observed (from -43% to +63%). The war in Ukraine resulted in airspace closures and bans on air carriers which impacted traffic flows in Europe.
ATFM delays in 2023 reached historical high levels, equivalent to those observed in 2018 and 2019 when several ANSPs experienced significant capacity issues. As a result, excluding the years affected by the COVID crisis, unit economic costs in 2023 (€607 per composite flight-hour) were the highest recorded in the last decade.
Total ATM/CNS provision costs rose by +2.9% (+€270.1M) in 2023, reflecting cost increases for 27 out of 38 ANSPs. The main cost categories driving this increase were staff costs (+5.1% or +€312.1M) and non-staff operating costs (+6.3% or +€98.5M).
Despite these increases, ANSPs’ cost-bases were still -€361.0M (-3.6%) lower than in 2019 owing to the significant cost-savings achieved by ANSPs at system level in 2020 and 2021.
In 2023, the number of ATM/CNS staff was slightly higher than in 2022 (+1.1% or +550 FTEs), mainly because of increases in the number of ATCOs in OPS (+168 FTEs), OPS support staff (+120FTEs) and technical support staff for operational maintenance (+99 FTEs).
Although the level of debt fell by -10.9% in 2023, short and long-term borrowings still represented 2.5 times the amount recorded in 2019.
ACE Report - Table of contents
Executive summary
- Introduction
Main Chapters:
- Overview of the Pan-European ANS system
- Financial cost-effectiveness performance
- Economic cost-effectiveness analysis
- Forward-looking cost-effectiveness (2024-2028)
- Financial indicators calculated from ANSPs’ financial statements
Annexes
- ANNEX 1 – Status of ANSPs 2023 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
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 factsheets and individual summary reports
Access information on individual ANSPs institution arrangements, legal status, corporate governance structure, scope of services, etc.
Access information on individual ANSPs cost-effectiveness performance (2018-2023), comparison with peers and historical information on capital investments projects.
