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Italy's Alitalia cancels 15 percent of flights amid strike

Xinhua, July 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

More than 60 flights of Italy's largest airline Alitalia were canceled on Friday at Rome's Fiumicino airport because of a 24-hour strike by pilots and flight attendants, local reports said.

According to a statement published on Alitalia's website, Alitalia canceled around 15 percent of the flights scheduled on Friday, including short and medium range flights. No long-haul flights to North America, South America and the Far East were affected, the statement added.

The company said it was contacting as many passengers of canceled flights as possible in order to provide information and assistance. Some, however, complained they were not informed of the disruption, Rai State television reported.

The strike, which came amid the summer vacation travel peak period, was called by one of the labor unions representing pilots and flight attendants, which expressed concerns for an allegedly planned reduction of personnel and low pays.

Alitalia labeled the union's allegations as the "result of pure fantasy" and said the strike was "disrespectful" of the sacrifices carried out by Alitalia workers after a huge fire broke out at Fiumicino in May causing huge damages to Terminal 3 of the busy airport.

Alitalia is a private company, with 51 percent of shares owned by Italian shareholders and 49 percent owned by Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates.

Alitalia, a national symbol for decades, after risking bankruptcy over the past few years unveiled its new brand and aircraft livery last month, underlining a revitalization of its business across Asia and other areas of its global operations.

As part of its 2015 summer schedule, Alitalia flies to 102 destinations, including 27 Italian and 75 international destinations, with a total of 164 routes and about 4,500 weekly flights.

The company has recently introduced new non-stop services between Milan and Shanghai and between Rome and Seoul, and has plans to link Italian cities to big countries in Africa and the Far East. Endit