Air traffic row causes flights chaos

Ryanair scrapped 34 flights to or from Stansted, Luton or Glasgow Prestwick, and added four tomorrow to help passengers.

And Aer Lingus flights between Dublin and Bologna and Milan were cancelled after the eight-hour strike by air traffic controllers forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

Workers called the walkout to demand a new contract, noting their last one expired two years ago. Italian airline Alitalia cancelled 334 flights ahead of the protest and rescheduled 74. Lufthansa, the German carrier, cancelled 54 flights between Germany and Italy. With the strike announced days earlier, most Italian travellers knew not to show up for flights, but some foreigners didn’t and headed to the airports.

At Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, about 230 flights, including arrivals and departures, were scrapped, said airport spokeswoman Maria Eva Meldolesi.

At Milan’s Malpensa hub, counters were shut down, while restaurants and cafes were empty.

The strike was the first in a series of transport walkouts scheduled for this month. Tomorrow, public transportation workers across the country are expected to walk off their job for 24 hours.