Fintraffic ANS's Annual Report 2023 is published
In 2023, our operations were characterised by adjusting our service production to meet the decrease in air traffic. In the summer of 2023, the layoffs of personnel ended almost completely. The war in Ukraine continued to reduce overflights in the Finnish airspace. Sanctions prevent Russian and Western airlines from overflying each other’s airspace, and air traffic between Europe and Asia is forced to circumvent Russia. Wide-body aircraft flying over Finland are mainly operated by Chinese airlines.
Compared to 2019, there was about one fifth less flights in the Finnish airspace. The traffic volumes fell clearly short of the RP3 performance plan forecasts and, accordingly, no savings were achieved. So, targets were not met in terms of unit cost development in 2023. However, due to the austerity measures taken, the actual costs were below the costs described in the performance plan. In 2023, traffic volumes for air route services (service unit) stood at about 65 per cent of the last pre-pandemic year (2019). Charter traffic picked up at the turn of the year in the north, where earlier records in traffic volumes were broken.
The full-year volume of international air traffic in 2023 stood at 79 per cent of the 2019 levels, although it reached 96 per cent towards the end of the year thanks to, for instance, favourable trends in Christmas flights to Lapland. In 2023, the full-year volume of domestic traffic was 66 per cent of the 2019 levels but reached almost 80 per cent towards the end of the year. In overflight traffic, the traffic volume for the whole year was 54 per cent and in December 62 per cent of the corresponding levels in 2019.
Progress in strategic projects
We design and maintain air navigation infrastructure and systems in accordance with international requirements. Cooperation at EU level reduces the environmental impact of aviation and increases safety and cost-effectiveness. Single European Sky (SES) – that is, a joint European airspace – aims to digitalise air navigation services in order to centrally manage and share aeronautical information. Fintraffic continued to prepare a cross-border air navigation service in collaboration with Estonian Air Navigation Services (EANS). To enable the project, a new FINEST treaty is being drafted between Finland and Estonia.
Introducing Multi Remote Operating Tower (MROT) could be a way to promote cost-efficiency, more flexible air navigation services and safety in the air navigation sector. It would enable a flexible provision of air traffic control services for several airports from a single workstation. This would improve both airport service levels and preparedness in air traffic control. It would also enable us to provide air traffic services at a lower cost. Fintraffic Air Navigation Services launched the change negotiations concerning the MROT project in June. It decided to continue planning the MROT project and to start preparing the tendering process. The decision to start the tendering process was made in December.
Training activities remained lively and services were developed
The air navigation training provider Avia College won the tender for training Georgian air traffic controller students. The training will begin in January 2024. Fintraffic Air Navigation Services will also be responsible for testing the applicants and selecting the students. The basic and refresher courses in on-the-job training and basic and refresher courses in competence assessment for Norwegian Avinor continued throughout the year. In spring 2023, 33 local control air traffic controllers from Luxembourg attended refresher training. In August 2023, 8 new air traffic controllers graduated from the air controller course, and 10 new students began the course.
The Aviation Act regulation concerning the U-space entered into force in February 2023. As a result, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom can establish a U-space airspace in which unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, could be operated more safely. However, the Ministry of Transport and Communications outlined that no Common Information Service (CIS) implementation model will be selected for U-space airspaces in Finland at this stage.
In the pipeline are an aviation situational awareness application, which Fintraffic will launch in 2024, and a digital flight preparation app for general aviation. We continued to develop our digital situational picture for air navigation and our other services by, for example, doing preparatory work for aeronautical information services for airspace users.
According to the results of our 2023 customer satisfaction survey, our strengths are: compliance with safety requirements, the experience of a high overall standard of services, the operations of the Airspace Management Cell (AMC) and high-quality air control services. Our cooperation with the State and military aviation is also at an excellent level. Despite the challenging years, our overall score has remained at a good level. To improve the standard of our operations, we also consult our customers on the areas that could be improved.
I would like to thank our customers and partners for their excellent cooperation. I would also like to thank all Fintraffic’s air navigation employees for their committed and high-quality work during the past year.
Raine Luojus
CEO
Read more https://www.fintraffic.fi/en/ans/fintraffic-ans-annual-report-2023
