Nearly 400 Flights Delayed or Cancelled at Rome, Milan and Catania as Italy Battles Weather and Capacity Crunch

Italy’s air-travel network suffered a bruising 7 February, with data from industry tracker FlightAware showing 383 delays and 13 outright cancellations at five major airports—Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate, Bergamo Orio al Serio and Catania Fontanarossa. Low-cost giant Ryanair bore the brunt (114 delays, seven cancellations), but national carrier ITA Airways, Wizz Air Malta and easyJet also racked up sizeable setbacks. (travelandtourworld.com)

Ground-handling unions blame a perfect storm: residual staffing gaps left over from the pandemic, slot congestion linked to Carnival-season city-break traffic, and a band of heavy rain that drifted up the Tyrrhenian coast during the morning peak. Airport operators ADR (Rome) and SEA (Milan) activated de-icing teams and called in reserve ramp crews, yet average departure delays still topped 55 minutes between 07:00 and 13:00.



For corporates, the timing is awkward. Milan’s fashion-buying calendar ramps up next week, and early-February trade fairs in Bologna and Verona traditionally attract short-notice business visitors who rely on point-to-point low-cost flights. Mobility managers should warn travellers that knock-on crew-rotation issues may linger through Monday; some airlines have already loaded precautionary cancellations into global distribution systems (GDS) to re-set rosters.

Practical tips: 1) encourage staff to check their flight status at least 24 hours and again three hours before departure; 2) book fully changeable fares where possible until mid-month; 3) for same-day connections, build in a minimum four-hour buffer or route via airports less affected, such as Venice or Naples. Under EU261 rules, weather-driven delays rarely trigger cash compensation, but airlines must still provide meals and, if necessary, hotels for overnight disruption.

Looking ahead, the episode underscores wider concerns about Italy’s readiness for the EU’s full Entry/Exit System roll-out in April, which will add biometric processing time at non-Schengen desks. Unless airports succeed in recruiting and training additional staff, today’s figures could become the new normal during summer peaks.