Article 2 — Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply: 

(1)     ‘actual cost’ means a cost actually incurred in a calendar year for the provision of air navigation services which are subject to certified accounts or, in the absence of such certified accounts, subject to a final audit; 

(2)     ‘air traffic services unit’ or ‘ATS unit’ means a unit, either civil or military, responsible for providing air traffic services in a given airspace; 

(3)     ‘airport coordinator’ means the natural or legal person appointed by a Member State to carry out the coordination duties at coordinated airports set out in Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93^[26];

(4)     ‘airport operator’ means any legal or natural person who operates one or more aerodromes;

(5)     ‘airspace user’ means the operator of the aircraft at the time when the flight is performed or, if the identity of the operator is not known, the owner of the aircraft, unless it can be proved that another person was the operator at that time;

(6)     ‘airspace users' representative’ means any legal person or entity representing the interests of one or several categories of airspace users;

(7)     ‘area control centre’ means a unit providing air traffic services to controlled flights in its area of responsibility.

(8)     ‘en route charging zone’ means a volume of airspace that extends from the ground up to, and including, upper airspace, where en route air navigation services are provided and for which a single cost base and a single unit rate are established; 

(9)     ‘exceptional event’ means circumstances under which ATM capacity is abnormally reduced so that the level of air traffic flow management (‘ATFM’) delays is abnormally high, as a result of a planned limitation induced through operational or technical change, major adverse weather circumstances, the unavailability of large airspace parts either through natural or political reasons, or industrial action, and the activation of the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell (‘EACCC’) by the Network Manager; 

(10)   ‘IFR air transport movements per year’ means the sum of take-offs and landings performed under IFR, calculated as the yearly average over the three calendar years preceding the year in which the draft performance plan was to be submitted in accordance with Article 12; 

(11)   ‘forecast inflation index’ means the annual inflation index based on the third year before the start of a reference period and computed by using the latest available inflation forecast of average Consumer Price Index percentage change published by the International Monetary Fund for the Member State concerned at the time of drafting the performance plan. In case the percentage change published by the International Monetary Fund for a given year is negative, a zero value shall be used.

(12)   ‘actual inflation index’ means the annual actual inflation index based on the third year before the start of a reference period and computed by using the actual inflation rate published by the Commission in the Eurostat Harmonised Index of Consumer Price for the State concerned in April of year n+1. In case the percentage change published by the Commission for a given year is negative, a zero value shall be used. 

(13)   ‘major investment’ means the acquisition, development, replacement, upgrade, or leasing of fixed assets representing a total value over the whole lifetime of the assets greater than EUR 5 million in real terms; 

(14)   ‘national authority’ means a regulatory or supervisory authority established by one or more Member States at national or functional airspace block level; 

(15)   ‘new and existing investment’ means the acquisition, development, replacement, upgrade or leasing of fixed assets where depreciation costs, cost of capital, or in the case of leasing, operating costs, for that investment are incurred during the reference period covered by the performance plan; 

(16)   ‘reference period’ means the period of validity and application of the Union-wide performance targets, as set out in point (d) of Article 11(3) of Regulation (EC) No 549/2004 and Article 7 of this Regulation; 

(17)   ‘reference value’ means the value computed by the Network Manager of en route ATFM delay for each Member State and each functional airspace block for the purpose of ensuring that the Union-wide en route ATFM delay target is met; 

(18)   ‘restructuring costs’ means significant one-time costs incurred by air navigation service providers in the process of restructuring for introducing new technologies, procedures or business models to stimulate integrated service provision, compensating employees, closing air traffic control centres, shifting activities to new locations, writing off assets or acquiring strategic participations in other air navigation service providers; 

(19)   ‘runway incursion’ means any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft; 

(20)   ‘separation minima infringement’ means a situation in which prescribed separation minima were not maintained between aircraft; 

(21)   ‘terminal charging zone’ means an airport or a group of airports, located within the territories of a Member State, where terminal air navigation services are provided and for which a single cost base and a single unit rate are established.