- Title: ITALY: PILOT STRIKE ON ALITALIA AIRLINES
- Date: 15th June 1995
- Summary: FIUMICINO, ITALY (JUNE 15, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF FIUMICINO AIRPORT 0.06 2. SV PARKED PLANES/INTERIOR OF CROWDED AIRPORT HALL 0.40 3. SV VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAITING 1.28 4. VOX POPS OF PEOPLE SAYING: WE'LL NEVER FLY ALITALIA AGAIN... ALITALIA IS THE WORST AIRLINE (ENGLISH) 2.12 5. MORE VOX POPS: WE ARE FURIOUS, THIS IS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF ITALIAN INEFFICIENCY... CUSTOMER SERVICE SAID WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING FOR YOU (ENGLISH) 2.40 6. SV PEOPLE PLAYING CARDS/DOZING 3.01 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 30th June 1995 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: FIUMICINO, ITALY
- City:
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVAD2YSX04IIGC5R0HHS27X276LX
- Story Text: An unscheduled strike by pilots at Italy's state airline Alitalia on Wednesday (June 14) left hundreds of passengers stranded at Rome's main Fiumicino airport.
Some 42 national and 49 international flights were cancelled and the situation did not improve on Thursday, causing great inconvenience and outrage.
"The situation has become untenable," a spokesman for the airline told Reuters. He said not one Alitalia flight had left Rome's Fiumicino airport on June 15 since six a.m. (0400 GMT) and that no planes would take off from Rome before midnight (2200 GMT).
The pilots began striking themselves off flight rosters at the last minute on Wednesday, often after passengers had checked in for journeys, claiming that they suddenly felt unwell.
They have been in dispute with the company for months over a tough restructuring plan announced by the management to sort out Alitalia's financial woes.
Thousands of passengers waiting at Fiumicino, some of them there since Wednesday, were told in loudspeaker announcements that all Alitalia domestic and international flights were off until midnight. Foreign carriers were not affected.
Some Alitalia flights did operate from other destinations on Thursday but the spokesman said that since Rome was the hub of the airline's services the "supposed illness epidemic" had created a chain effect of total disruption.
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