Effects of fragmentation on route charges

The European Air Traffic Management (ATM) system is highly fragmented. It consists of 37 air navigation service providers (ANSPs) whose areas of responsibility are, in most cases, limited to national borders. ATM fragmentation impacts air traffic operations in Europe in several ways. One of them is reflected through the current route charging system, which is designed and adapted to the fragmented ATM system to recover air navigation service provision costs at the level of individual ANSPs. Differences in unit rates have led to the phenomenon of aircraft taking detours around expensive charging zones, resulting in additional fuel consumption and emissions, as well as traffic shifts caused by varying unit rates. In this article, we analyze the differences in the unit rates across Europe and their evolution over the past few years. The main focus of the article is the analysis of the route charge variability on an airport-pair level, measured by an airport-pair variability indicator, which we suggest as a metric. We show the route charge variability for different flight distances, geographic areas, and flight directions, and we also identify airport pairs with the highest route charge variability. Finally, we discuss selected alternatives to the current route charging system, such as the uniform charge method and different approaches to airport-pair charging.