A 24-hour strike by Italian air traffic controllers has been confirmed for Tuesday, 25 February, causing airlines such as Alitalia to issue warnings to passengers about potential disruption.
The Italian flag carrier has cancelled several flights, including some to and from Heathrow and London City airport, as well as domestic services. Select flights have also been cancelled on the evening of 24 February and early morning on 26 February.
A statement released by the airline said: “Alitalia has taken special measures to mitigate customer inconvenience by operating bigger aircraft on domestic and international routes, in order to rebook passengers affected by cancellations onto the first available flights on the same day.”
Alitalia claimed more than half of passengers impacted by cancellations will still be able to fly on 25 February.
Meanwhile, British Airways has introduced flexible rebooking options for passengers due to travel to or from Italian airports, and Ryanair said on Twitter that it is expecting to operate flights as normal.
The strike announcement comes after the Italian government introduced lock-down measures for ten small towns in the regions of Lombardy and Veneto in response to a growing number of coronavirus cases in the country. Many public and private events have also been suspended in the regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Piemonte and Emilia Romagna.