Anyone who flies to Italy today or has booked a flight from there must expect delays and cancellations. The reason is a warning strike at the Italian air traffic control Enav. Italy’s state airline Ita Airways canceled just over 200 flights, most of them domestic.
Connections to Germany are also affected: Ita canceled the flights between Munich and Rome, Frankfurt am Main and Milan, Stuttgart and Milan as well as Düsseldorf and Milan, according to a statement. The low-cost airline Easyjet canceled flights between Berlin and Rome with reference to the warning strike.
The unions CGIL, CISL and UIL called for the work stoppage at air traffic control. According to Enav, the airports in Rome, Milan Malpensa and Venice are among those affected. Accordingly, there should be restrictions between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. “We apologize to all passengers who may experience any inconvenience due to the strike,” UIL wrote in a statement. But Enav’s rejection of workers’ demands made this strike action inevitable.
Among other things, the unions are demanding changes in working hours and shift schedules from the state-owned company Enav. The employee representatives announced that they would press ahead with their demands – if necessary – with further protest actions. The last strike in Enav was on July 17th. Even then, numerous flights were canceled in the middle of the holiday season and passengers were stranded at airports.
