ITALY: Angry passengers fume over chaos at Fiumicino airport following protests by Alitalia staff

Record ID: 338538

  • Title: ITALY: Angry passengers fume over chaos at Fiumicino airport following protests by Alitalia staff
  • Date: 12th November 2008
  • Summary: (EU) ROME, ITALY (NOVEMBER 11, 2008) (REUTERS) WIDE OF DEPARTURES TERMINAL PASSENGER SITTING ON LUGGAGE PEOPLE IN QUEUE IN FRONT OF ALITALIA TICKETING DESK ALITALIA EMPLOYEES VARIOUS MORE OF PEOPLE IN QUEUE MONITORS SHOWING FLIGHT INFORMATION (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PASSENGER ELMILIO JIRILLO SAYING: "The most offensive thing is that the Alitalia ground personnel, the very f
  • Embargoed: 27th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVAAM8XH7FTJLCZRTQYBMF11TDID
  • Story Text: Queues of passengers have been stranded in the departure lounges at Rome's Fiumicino airport as airlines struggle to keep up with the numbers of people still waiting for flights following protests yesterday by Alitalia staff.
    Angry, tired and fed up with a lack of information, hundreds of stranded passengers filled the departure lounges at Rome's Fiumcino airport on Tuesday (November 11) waiting to board flights and continue their journeys.
    Impromptu protests by Alitalia employees opposed to the carrier's takeover by Italian businessmen forced the cancellation of at least 95 flights on Monday and airlines have been unable to catch up with the amount of people still waiting to board planes.

    "The most offensive thing is that the Alitalia ground personnel, the very few of them that you meet, deliberately mislead passengers with false, confusing information on flights. We tried to leave yesterday but after an hour and a half of queuing at the check in counter we were told our flight was cancelled," said a frustrated passenger Emilio Jirillo still waiting to find out when he could leave.
    By midday, 37 flights had been cancelled to and from Milan's Linate airport and another 25 at Rome's Fiumicino.
    Alitalia's pilots and cabin crew are up in arms over new work contracts proposed by the Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI) group, which plans to buy the airline's profitable parts for 375 million euros ($483.6 million) in a bid to relaunch it.

    "What is most sad for us is to see that the agreements we had reached in September during our negotiations (with the CAI consortium) are not being respected," Alitalia pilot Fabio De Donno said.
    "They were agreements that our representatives had signed in front of government officials who should have guaranteed their fulfillment. Yet, in October CAI made different proposals and our representatives were prevented from taking part in the last rounds of talk. This is unacceptable, CAI cannot refuse to listen to unions that represent 90% of pilots."
    CAI, which has the backing of four major Alitalia unions, is pressing ahead with the deal despite resistance from pilots and stewards and plans to approach them individually to offer jobs.
    Most passengers are unaware of the financial negotiations going on within Alitalia, they just want to get home. Many were blaming their flight delays not on the airlines but on the financial crisis.

    "It's not a problem with Alitalia, it is a problem with the world (and its financial crisis). British Airways, U.S. airlines, Qatar airline...all have problems. It's not just Alitalia," said Kuwaiti passenger Fahad Aziz.
    The situation at Fiumicino has been worsened by the closure of Rome's second airport, Ciampino, following the emergency landing made by a Ryanair plane on Monday after hitting a flock of birds.
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