As airport chaos continues across the country, dozens of flights between the UK and Italy were canceled on Wednesday June 8 due to air traffic control strikes in Italy. Budget airline Ryanair cut a handful of flights from Stansted Airport and around 14 flights were canceled between London airports and Milan by British Airways.

A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Due to Air Traffic Control (ATC) strikes at Milan Bergamo, Milan Malpensa, Turin, Verona, Genoa, Cuneo and Parma airports, we have unfortunately been forced to cancel a number of flights on Wednesday.These ATC strikes are completely beyond our control and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience they inevitably cause.

Aviation workers who are members of two Italian unions are staging a strike from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. over various issues including wages, sick pay, holidays and refreshments. The Italian Union of Transport Workers (UILT) has warned that if an agreement is not reached, “it will only be the first in a series of protest actions”.

LEARN MORE: Stansted Airport: What are my rights if my flight with easyJet, Tui, British Airways is cancelled?

In recent months, many passengers whose flights have taken place have reported being stuck in airport queues for several hours. The Cornwall Newquay Airport boss admitted the industry should have been better prepared to avoid travel chaos, but is optimistic the situation will improve in time for summer getaways.

Tim Jeans told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We should have planned better, we should have understood the peak would come back, particularly this summer, but it came back earlier than expected.”

He said, “I don’t think you can kick all this out of government; we had to resource our operations better than we did during the Easter and mid-term holidays. It will take 18 months for our industry to recover, but that doesn’t mean there should be the kind of chaos and disruption we’ve seen in recent weeks. »

But Tory MP Huw Merriman, chairman of the Commons Transport Select Committee, said the government should have taken more action. “I think there’s been a failure to understand that you can’t just flip a switch and expect the aviation industry to restart,” he told Today.

“They only got the green light on March 18. They must exploit 70% of their slots, otherwise they could lose them. So, yes, the government and parliament have told them to restart at those levels, but it can take three months to recruit staff and go through the vetting process.

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