Strikes in Italy Cause Flight Cancellations, Cruise Delays

Rail strikes across Italy hit the tourism sector on Thursday, causing mass cancellations on all rail lines, including high-speed trains. Though the rail strikes are over, Italy isn’t in the clear yet. Air traffic controllers and baggage handlers at all airports plan to strike on Saturday, July 15, with hundreds of flights now proactively canceled.

Train Strike
Thursday’s 12-hour train strike (3 a.m. to 3 p.m.) by workers at Italo and state-owned Trenitalia affected trains all across the country. In Milan, eight of 20 scheduled Trenitalia trains scheduled between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. were canceled.

The strike was originally slated to be longer but was halved after Italy’s Transport Minister signed a decree ordering the two-day strike to be cut in half.

According to Business Travel News Europe, the strike was called jointly by several unions and was part of an ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions.

Air Strikes & Disruptions
The air traffic controller and baggage handler strike will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday and run through 6 p.m. at all airports in Italy.

During some of the same hours (12 p.m. to 4 p.m.) pilots with Malta Air will also strike, while pilots and flight attendants at low-cost carrier Vueling will walk off the job from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

According to FlightAware, cancellations are starting to pile up for July 15 – Malpensa International in Milan, Leonardo da Vinci International in Rome, Naples International, and Marco Polo International in Venice are all experiencing cancellations already.

As of the morning of July 14, here is what European carriers are saying about possible travel disruptions:

Ryanair said on Friday that it expects cancellations and flight disruptions on flights to and from Italy on July 15. Any affected customers will be notified via email, test, or push notifications with options for rebooking.

“We sincerely apologize to our customer for any inconvenience caused due to the Italian Air Traffic Control strike and Local airport providers (external ground handling) strike, which is beyond our control,” it said.

ITA Airways has already cancelled 133 domestic and international flights scheduled for July 15. It said that it will rebook passengers on the first available flight and that 40% of the affected passengers will be able to fly on the same day as the strike.

ITA is also allowing all passengers to change their flight without penalty or get a refund by July 22.

EasyJet said that it is also expected delays and some disruptions on Saturday and for passengers to check their status before heading to the airport.

“Although this situation is outside of our control, we would like to apologize to any affected passengers for the inconvenience caused,” it said in a statement.

Cruise Disruptions
At least one cruise line has had to make a major itinerary change due to Saturday’s strike.

“Due to an impending strike in Italy which is likely to have far-reaching effects across the transport sectors, we are revising the voyage itinerary for your cruise,” Oceania Cruises wrote in an email sent to passengers due to set sail on Vista this Saturday.

“To afford all of our guests additional time to reach Trieste, Vista will now remain in Trieste until 6 pm on July 16th. As a result of this extended stay in Trieste, we will need to bypass our originally scheduled calls in Split, and Kotor.”

Other cruise lines with ships scheduled to depart an Italian port on Saturday include Princess Cruises (Enchanted Princess from Civitavecchia) and Norwegian Cruise Line (Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Epic from Civitavecchia).