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STRIKES

UPDATE: What to expect from Italy’s nationwide airport staff strike on Saturday

Airline passengers face disruption in Italy on Saturday, July 15th, as a nationwide airport staff strike has already caused ITA Airways to cancel 133 flights.

Published: 13 July 2023 15:34 CEST
Updated: 14 July 2023 17:07 CEST
ITA Airways plane
Italy's flag carrier ITA Airways has so far cancelled 133 flights ahead of Saturday's nationwide airport staff strike. Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP

A long-planned eight-hour strike threatening to disrupt national air travel is set to go ahead on Saturday, July 15th.

Air traffic control and handling staff at airports around Italy will walk out from 10am until 6pm, meaning likely delays or cancellations affecting flights to and from the country.

READ ALSO: Should you travel in Italy when there’s a strike on?

Ground operations including check-in and baggage handling services are also likely to be disrupted.

In separate walkouts on the same day, staff from Spanish airline Vueling plan to strike during the same eight-hour window as airport workers (from 10am to 6pm) and staff from Malta Air, which operates some Ryanair flights, will strike from 12pm to 4pm.

Though few details had been confirmed by airlines on Friday, Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper warned that around 1,000 flights could be affected in total.

Ryanair stated on Thursday that “cancellations and flight disruptions will be expected on flights to and from Italy on Saturday” due to the strike action.

It said customers would be notified and “informed of their options as soon as possible”, without giving details of the number of flights cancelled.

READ ALSO: EasyJet cancels 1,700 flights around Europe this summer

Air Malta, Malta’s flag carrier (not to be confused with the above-mentioned Malta Air), said in a press release it had changed the departure times of six flights headed to or departing from Italy on Saturday. It said it would offer a full refund to affected passengers wishing to cancel their booking.

Though its staff won’t be taking part in the strike, Italy’s flag carrier ITA Airways said in a press release it had so far cancelled 133 flights scheduled for Saturday. The company has published a list of affected flights on its website.

The airline said it was rebooking affected passengers onto the first available flights, with 40 percent of clients expected to be able to travel on the same day.

Further cancellations could be on the cards as the company advised anyone who’s meant to be travelling with them on Saturday to check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport.

Which airports will be affected?

A total of 118 flights have been cancelled to and from Naples, the city airport’s management company said on Friday.

None of Italy’s other major airports had confirmed details of cancellations at the time of writing.

Aeroporti di Roma, the company running Rome’s Ciampino and Fiumicino airports, and Milan Airports, which manages Linate and Malpensa, both warned passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline.

As with previous airport strikes in Italy, there is no way to tell in advance which airports will bear the brunt of strike action.

The level of disruption experienced by passengers on Saturday will vary from airport to airport based on the number of workers participating in the walkout. 

READ ALSO: OPINION: Italy’s constant strikes are part of the country’s DNA

But, even in the hardest-hit airports, the demonstration will not result in a complete stop to in- or outbound travel. Under Italian law, some flights are protected during strike action.

Which flights are guaranteed? 

Flights scheduled to depart between 7am and 10am and between 6pm and 9pm are protected from strikes and should go ahead as usual on Saturday. 

Italy’s civil aviation authority, Enac, said a number of intercontinental flights and some flights to and from the major islands, Sicily and Sardinia, will also operate as normal on the day. 

A full list of guaranteed flights is available on Enac’s website.

Enac said all domestic flights already underway at the time the strike begins (10am) should reach their intended destination as planned.

Keep up with the latest updates in The Local’s strike news section.

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For members

BREXIT

Are Italy’s British residents still getting their passports stamped?

UK residents of Italy protected under the Withdrawal Agreement reported having their passports wrongly stamped at border checks following Brexit. Has that issue now been cleared up, or are some Brits still experiencing issues?

Published: 22 May 2024 15:53 CEST
Updated: 23 May 2024 09:08 CEST
Are Italy's British residents still getting their passports stamped?

In the months after the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement was finalised, many UK citizens in Italy with permanent Italian residency reported having their passports wrongly stamped on leaving and entering Italy.

Italy is one of a handful of “declaratory” countries in the EU where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory, though UK authorities advised obtaining the card as “evidence of your rights”.

The lack of clarity caused widespread confusion, with many Italian officials wrongly insisting that the carta di soggiorno elettronica was the only valid proof of pre-Brexit Italian residency.

Meanwhile, many travellers initially reported that border officials in Italy were not clear on the purpose of the card and had stamped their passports regardless – leading to concerns about erroneous stamps causing problems on future trips.

The issue appears to have been largely resolved for British citizens who finally gave in and applied for the document, with most cardholders saying they no longer have issues with their passports being stamped at the country’s major airports.

READ ALSO: What’s the deal with passport stamping in Italy?

However, some UK nationals resident in Italy say they’re still wrongly having their passports stamped at smaller airports in Italy, especially when travelling alongside large groups of British holidaymakers.

And others report routinely having their passport stamped when entering the Schengen zone via a different EU member state to that of Italy – for example, when travelling by car from the UK via France.

UK national David Prince commented in response to a recent article on passport stamping that a border official had stamped his passport on arriving in Calais, despite his presenting an Italian residency permit.

“When I asked why he simply said “Article 50,” Prince said, “which I knew was rubbish but I couldn’t be bothered to argue.”

According to European Commission rules in place since 2022, Schengen border agents have been told that they shouldn’t stamp the passports of anyone with a valid EU residence permit – but there’s no EU law stopping them from doing so.

Even if your passport is stamped, it doesn’t carry any official weight.

“The Commission recommends – notably as regards beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement – that Member State border guards refrain from stamping,” the rules say.

“In any case, should stamping nevertheless take place, such stamp cannot affect the length of the authorised long-term stay.”

READ ALSO: Can I use my Italian carta d’identità for travel?

If you arrive at any Schengen border, it’s advisable to hand over your passport already opened to the photo page, with your residency card on top, and say that you’re resident in Italy.

If you’re at an Italian border checkpoint, you might want to say ‘sono residente in Italia’ – I’m an Italian resident – and be prepared to answer questions about your reasons for being in Italy.

One additional source of confusion for some residents has been the difference between a carta d’identità and a carta di soggiorno.

The carta di soggiorno elettronica is the post-Brexit residency card which proves your status as a legal resident in Italy, wheres a carta d’identità is simply your Italian ID card.

The ID card is valid for ten years, but that doesn’t automatically give you the right to stay in Italy for all that time. Some non-EU citizens on certain visas might have a ten-year ID card, but a one-year Italian residency permit.

For that reason, your Italian ID card isn’t considered proof of your right to be in the country; as a British citizen resident in Italy and covered under the Withdrawal Agreement, you’ll need to show your carta di soggiorno elettronica to a border agent to stand the best chance of avoiding having your passport stamped.

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