Global Air Navigation Services Performance Report: 2019 – 2023
As the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, 2023 marked a turning point for many regions across the globe. While air traffic recovery was well underway, new and complex challenges began to surface, which added fresh layers of disruption to an already strained global landscape. The year was shaped by the Russian aggression in Ukraine, periods of economic uncertainty, and rising inflation. This report reflects on a period when the effects of the pandemic were still being felt, even as the industry began to navigate a new set of global pressures.
The year 2023 saw the industry fully recover from the downturn inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with air travel fully reaching and even surpassing pre-2019 levels across most countries and regions. However, even as the industry emerged from the aftermath of one global crisis, it faced further turbulent global economic conditions owing to significant geo-political challenges, such as the Russian aggression in Ukraine. This alongside a new conflict in the Middle-East, further disrupted global financial markets and destabilised regional economies causing significant instability and fluctuations in fuel prices. These external economic conditions contributed to rising inflation levels and exerted inflationary pressures across the globe. Despite these economic headwinds the global air passenger traffic continued its upward trajectory, which saw a 36.9 per cent increase in RPKs compared to 2022, which in terms of global passenger traffic for the 2023 calendar year was at 94.1 per cent of pre-2019 levels.
This year’s report presents data for 48 ANSPs and includes performance indicators for the year 2023, along with trend data covering the period from 2019 to 2023. To facilitate a credible comparison of performance, the ANSPs that submitted data to CANSO were grouped into three comparator categories based on the number of IFR hours managed. This approach ensures that the analysis reflects the differing scales and complexities of the
participating ANSPs.
In line with CANSO’s ambition for the Global ANS Performance Report to present a more comprehensive view of performance, data provided by the CANSO Safety Intelligence Workgroup (SIWG), examining key safety metrics for 2023, has been included. Collaboration between CANSO workgroups is intended to support the analysis of interdependencies across datasets and ultimately generate deeper insights into the factors driving
performance trends.
We would also like to express our appreciation to HungaroControl for contributing a case study that explores the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on their operational performance, particularly in relation to capacity
