Support study for an ex-post evaluation of the SES performance and charging schemes : final report

The EU Single European Sky (SES) policy is a key pillar of the Community's aviation policy. SES should lead to an improvement of the performance of air traffic management in Europe, to the benefit of industry, environment, passengers and society at large. The EU Performance and Charging Schemes are an important instrument to realise this ambition. Both the performance and charging schemes share the objective to improve the performance of what is essentially a monopoly-driven industry without competitive/market forces. The performance scheme sets a framework for improving performance through a series of reference periods that successively identify new targets to be reached. The charging scheme aims to set a level and transparent playing field for charges and support the performance scheme through tools that encourage higher performance (charge modulation, incentives etc.). In the Better Regulation Package of the new Juncker Commission, there is a stronger emphasis on ex post evaluation in the policy cycle. This study is an application of that objective in the area of SES, by reviewing the effectiveness of the EU performance and charging schemes as defined in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 390/2013 laying down a performance scheme for air navigation services and network functions and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No Regulation 391/2013 laying down a common charging scheme for air navigation services. The Terms of Reference (ToR) states that the objective of the evaluation is twofold: - First, the objective is to evaluate the SES performance and charging schemes during the first reference period including the set-up of the Performance Review Body (PRB) and its support functions and compare this with the past arrangements. It is stated that the evaluation should also review the coherence and complementarity of other SES initiatives contributing to the achievements of performance targets. - Second, the study should assess the quality of raw data and the underlying data handling that is used for the purposes of the performance and charging schemes. In addition to the formal objectives of the study, the European Commission indicated during the kick-off meeting that the study should aim to provide lessons learned for the third reference period (RP3) preparations and planning. The scope of the study includes the first regulatory period, RP1, covering the period 2012-2014, as well as the results of the first year of the second reference period (RP2).