Planes, delays and cancellations. Enav: “Anomalies on the data network”. Capacity halved. No hacker attack

ROME – Air traffic slowed down. Aircraft departing with serious delays and arriving with serious delays at Milan Linate, Bergamo Orio al Serio, Rome Fiumicino. The strike of easyJet pilots and crews also complicates the situation.

The Italy that flies wakes up with a bad surprise. Since the night, the data transmission network of the ENAV flight controllers, necessary to manage aircraft traffic, has been recording "anoomalies".

Thus a note from ENAV: "Starting from 6:00 am, in consideration of the progressive increase in air traffic and the persistence of anomalies, to continue to guarantee maximum safety of operations, flow regulation measures have been introduced, which entail a temporary reduction in the management capacity of aircraft in Italian airspace".

They are not pirates

The situation, therefore, is serious. If it's any consolation, we are faced with a pure and simple technical failure. Enav "malicious activity". In short, we are not victims of a hacker attack.

The anomalies "on the geographical data transmission network in support of air traffic control services throughout the national territory" were found "during the night", the note informs. And "thanks to the activation of the foreseen quota systems, Enav guaranteed the regular management of air traffic until 6:00 this morning, without any reduction in operational capacity".

Then the inconveniences began, in a cascade. At Fiumicino airport, as in the rest of Italy, there are repercussions on flights. At the moment, there would be 6 cancellations (also for Milan Linate, Riyadh, Tirana and Trieste) and 93 flights delayed between 15 and 60 minutes of waiting.

The monitors and the chatbot

ADR is informing passengers, via the website, airport monitors and its own communication channels, that "due to technical problems with the air traffic control systems on a national scale, delays and cancellations may occur. Passengers are invited to check the status of their flight with the relevant airline".

The chatbot number on WhatsApp (3489991111) of Rome Airports is also active where travelers can get information on the status of their flight in real time.

At Malpensa the departures board indicates delays from half an hour to over two hours, while those for arrivals are more limited. Delays also at Linate airport: from twenty minutes to an hour for arrivals, up to more than an hour for departures.

Ryanair, Volotea

Problems also at Orio al Serio airport, in the province of Bergamo, where the 6.50 Ryanair for Trapani took off an hour and a half late; an hour and twenty minutes of delay also for the same company's flight to Berlin, while the arrival of the Volotea coming from Olbia at 7.45 is scheduled for 11.18.