Efficiency and sustainability of public service obligations on scheduled air services between Almeria and Seville

Figures & data

Table 1. PSO domestic market by EU Member State (2018).

EU Member States with at least one PSO route	Number of PSO air routes	Total population	Total area (km^2)	Number of PSO air routes per million inhabitants	Number of PSO air routes per total area (Mm^2)
France	40	67,221,943	549,060	0.5950	72.8518
Greece	28	10,738,868	131,912	2.6074	212.2627
United Kingdom	22	66,238,007	247,763	0.3321	88.7945
Portugal	20	10,291,027	88,847	1.9434	225.1061
Spain	20	46,659,302	498,504	0.4286	40.1200
Italy	14	60,483,973	301,291	0.2315	46.4667
Sweden	11	10,120,242	449,896	1.0869	24.4501
Croatia	10	4,105,493	56,539	2.4358	176.8691
Estonia	3	1,319,133	45,347	2.2742	66.1565
Ireland	3	4,838,259	70,601	0.6201	42.4923
Finland	2	5,513,130	337,547	0.3628	5.9251
Cyprus	1	864,236	9,249	1.1571	108.1198
Czech Republic	1	10,610,055	78,874	0.0943	12.6784
Lithuania	1	2,808,901	65,412	0.3560	15.2877
Average values:				1.0375	8.1256

Source: Compiled by authors based on figures from EC (2018) and Eurostat (2018).

Table 2. Tender procedures for awards of PSO route (as of 31.12.2018).

Case reference	1^st case: 332/A09^i	2^nd case: 138/A14	3^rd case: 43/A18
Short description of the contract	Air transport services subject to PSO on the route LEI-SVQ-LEI, pursuant to the contents of ACM of 13 March 2009.	Air transport services subject to PSO on the route LEI-SVQ-LEI, pursuant to the contents of ACM of 13 March 2009, amended by FOM/2457/2013 Order of 27 December 2013.	Air transport services subject to PSO on the route LEI-SVQ-LEI, pursuant to the contents of ACM of 13 March 2009, amended by FOM/2457/2013 Order of 27 December 2013.
Duration of the contract [months]	48	48	48
Scheduled start date	15.10.2010	01.08.2014	01.08.2018
Scheduled finish date	14.01.2014	01.08.2018	01.10.2022
Announcements on the Official State Gazette (BOE)	BOE-A-2013-13800	BOE-B-2014-10733 BOE-B-2014-28797	BOE-B-2018-22408 BOE-B-2018-40380
Announcements on the Journal of the Community (OJEU)	Internal (unpublished) documents	2014-OJS060-101398-en	Docs. 52018XC0328(05) 52017XC1011(02)
Estimated value of the contract (€)	11,900,000	9,074,050	8,925,000
Awarding authority	Dirección General de Aviación Civil (DGAC)	Dirección General de Aviación Civil (DGAC)	Dirección General de Aviación Civil (DGAC)
Applicant airline (call sign) (IATA code)	Operador Aéreo Ándalus, S.A. (ANDALUS) [formerly EA]ii	Air Nostrum Líneas Aéreas del Mediterráneo, S.A. (AIR NOSTRUM) [YW]	Air Nostrum Líneas Aéreas del Mediterráneo, S.A. (AIR NOSTRUM) [YW]
	Air Nostrum Líneas Aéreas del Mediterráneo, S.A. (AIR NOSTRUM) [YW]
Awarded airline	YW	YW	YW
Allotment amount [€]	10,525,898	8,925,000	8,898,226
Bid selection criteria according to the tender specifications published by DGAC (listed in descending order)	Contract price. Responsiveness. Economic study Fares and conditions of price schemes. Improvements in the service rendered.	Contract price. Responsiveness. Proper fleet availability. Fares and conditions of price schemes. Improvements in the service rendered. Enhancement of connectivity.	Price of compensation (70%). Responsiveness of service (6%). Connectivity (3%). Service continuity (9%). Flight frequencies (7.5%). Fares and conditions of price schemes (4.5%).
Maximum basic one-way fare [€] (in start of the contract year)	117 each way	130 each way	LEI-SVQ: 139.27 SVQ-LEI: 140.89
Possibility of undercutting fixed maximum fees	yes	yes	yes
Minimum capacity available each way	30,000	30,000	25,500
Selected aircraft modeliii [IATA code]	CRJ-200ER [CR2]	CRJ-200ER [CR2]	CRJ-200ER [CR2]
Available seats with standard configuration	50	50	50
Aircraft and crew based on airport	LEI	LEI	LEI

Please note that ACM means Acuerdo del Consejo de Ministros (Agreement of the Council of Ministers), while FOM means Fomento (Department of Public Works).

ⁱOn December 3, 2018, upon our request, the authors were told by the Subdirectorate General for Air Transport that first invitation to tender for first imposition of PSO in 2009 is not available, and therefore has not yet been published on the corresponding public repository from the DGAC. A few months later of this fact, the Spanish Minister of Public Works subsequently sent further documents on this matter. As a result, missing figures therefore were updated in the Table 2.

ⁱⁱANDALUS was a regional airline headquartered at Malaga Airport (AGP) that operated only two aircrafts, ERJ-145EU and ATR42-300, from 27 February 2009 to 13 August 2010.

ⁱⁱⁱOccasionally, the PSO route may be operated due to reasons of force majeure with other aircraft models of YW fleet such as ATR72-600 [AT7] (74 standard seats), as well as CRJ-900 [CR9] (90 standard seats) and CRJ-1000 [CRK] (100 standard seats). Indeed, this matter is expressly mentioned in attachments related to bidding documents of case reference No. 43/A18 for the purpose of ensuring those levels of service required from tender specifications.

Source: Compiled by authors based on information provided from tender documents related to bidding process of concerned imposition of PSO on scheduled air service LEI-SVQ-LEI.

Figure 1. PAX per year on the route LEI-SVQ-LEI.

Source: Elaborated by the authors from air traffic data provided by AENA (2018).

Figure 2. Effective subsidy per passenger carried (€/PAX).

Source: Compiled by authors based on air traffic data provided by AENA (2018), and by the Junta de Andalucía through the corresponding request No. EXP-2018/00001153-PID@.

Table 3. Overview table of public means of transport on the route (as of 31.12.2018)

Key figures	Airplane^a	Train^b	Bus^c
Daily frequencies/leg	2	4	4
Travel distance	319 km.^i	456.70 km.	429 km.
Intermediate stops	0	1 - 5	1 - 19
Travel time	0:55 h	6:48 h - 07:10 h	5:30 h - 8:30h
Base price (2018)	130 € (max. price)	42.2 €	37.76 €
Standard equipment (most used on route)	Bombardier CRJ-200ER	CAF RENFE599	Setra S 417 HDH
Number of seats	50	189	50
Engines^d	2 x General Electric CF34-3B1 turbofans	Diesel, 4 x MAN D2876 LUE623	MB OM 457 LA, Euro V, BlueTec®
Fuel Burn/journey	1540.05 liters^ii (Jet A1)	908.83 liters (Diesel)	119.56 liters (Diesel)
Emissions CO2/journey	4,475 kg.	1,175.09 kg.	301.30 kg.
Emissions CO2/journey per passenger^f	89.5 kg. / PAX^iv	6.22 kg. /PAX	6.03 kg. / PAX
Alternative equipment	CRJ-900 CRJ-1000 ATR72-600 ATR42-500^iii	CAF RENFE598	Setra S 419 GT-HD Mercedes-Benz 16RHD
Is there more than one carrier on the route?	No	No	No
Exploitation regime on the route	PSO contract for non-renewable period of four years (see Table 2). Tender procedures for awards of PSO route (as of 31.12.2018)	Facto monopoly	Permanent public transport on scheduled road service through both coordinated services from administrative concessions No. VJA-160 and VJA-167.^e

ⁱ The distance covered with CR2 is 172 nm, 319 km, according to great circle route per leg at heading of 100° (E) from LEI to SVQ and of 283° (WNW) from LEI to SVQ.

ⁱⁱ At ISA (15° C), the Jet A1 density is 0.804 kg/l, when the aircraft fuel burn is 1,238.20 kg.

ⁱⁱⁱ When flights on this route were supplied by UX and performed by WT from January 15th until 31th July of 2014.

^iv Carbon Emissions declared in the ICAO’s Carbon Offsetting Scheme.

Sources:.

^a Calculated from AENA data by authors considering a standard operation performing two daily flights per leg in each calendar year.

^b Provided and calculated by RENFE.

^c Provided and calculated by ALSA.

^d Datasheets from respective equipment manufactures.

^e Information provided by Junta de Andalucía from request No EXP-2018/00002154-PID@.

^f Whereas the equipment capacity is fully occupied (100% of seats).

Table 4. Public transport system between Almeria and Seville (as of 31.12.2018).

Year of operation	Passenger load factor (PLF) [%]
	Airplane^i a	Train^ii b	Bus^iii c
2010	84.22	33.02^d	32.00
2011	94.53	34.89^e	30.25
2012	94.09	34.00^e	30.10
2013	84.17	35.66	29.80
2014	63.29	35.96	32.00
2015	80.04	35.77	31.50
2016	82.49	33.35	30.90
2017	95.68	33.90	31.20

ⁱ Figures have been calculated taking into account the transport service is performed by the standard equipment, that is, the CR2 with 50 standard seats/leg.

ⁱⁱ Figures have been calculated taking into account the transport service is performed by the standard equipment, that is, the RENFE CAF 599/598 with 189/185 standard seats/leg.

ⁱⁱⁱ Figures have been calculated taking into account the transport service is performed by the standard equipment, that is, the Mercedes-16RHD/Setra 419GTHD/Setra 417 HDH with standard 50 seats/leg.

Sources:.

^a Calculated from AENA data by authors considering a standard operation performing two daily flights per leg in each calendar year.

^b Provided and calculated by RENFE.

^c Provided and calculated by ALSA.

^d Corresponds to the total LF on Middle Distance Train (MD) throughout Spain.

^e Corresponds to the total LF on Middle Distance Train (MD) throughout Andalusia.

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