Due to a strike by the ground staff at the Italian airports, about a thousand departing and arriving flights have been canceled today. The unions called for action as wage negotiations continue to drag on. The unions are asking for a new collective labor agreement to be signed. The strike, which is expected to last from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., affects about 250,000 domestic and international holidaymakers.
National airline Ita Airways says it has canceled 133 flights, most of them domestic, but also a few to European destinations such as Madrid, Amsterdam and Barcelona. The inconvenience is particularly great at Malta Air, a company that operates flights for Ryanair and which cannot be confused with Air Malta, Ita Airways, the former Alitalia, and Vueling. The pilots of these companies also participate in the action.
Several flights to and from Brussels Airport have also been affected. These are destinations such as Florence, Venice, Naples, Milan, Catania and Rome, according to the Brussels Airport website. This mainly concerns flights of Brussels Airlines, but also of Ita Airways. The airports are calling on passengers to check in advance whether their flight will go ahead.
Around 200 flights were canceled at Fiumicino-Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in Rome, including to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. Nearly 150 flights have been canceled at Milan’s two airports, Linate and Malpensa. To Turin-Caselle and Palermo there are about thirty flights.
Italy’s Transport Minister Matteo Salvini appeals to the “common sense” of the strikers not to extend their strike so as not to “harm millions of other workers and tourists”.
Summer in Italy is often the peak season for transport strikes. Not only aviation, but the entire transport sector in Italy is affected by industrial action. On Thursday, strikes at both state rail operator Trenitalia and commercial player Italo led to cancellations and delays on several lines.
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