easyJet flight crew based in Italy will stage a 24-hour national strike on Friday, October 16, and Italy's Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) has published the list of services the airline must still operate under the country's minimum-service rules. Passengers flying with easyJet to, from or within Italy tomorrow are being told to check their individual flight rather than assume the whole schedule is grounded.
The action runs from 00:00 to 23:59 local time and covers the airline's Italy-based flight crew. According to Italy's Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport strike register, the stoppage was called by the USB Lavoro Privato union and was formally proclaimed on September 14.
What ENAC says must still fly
ENAC first released its guaranteed-flights document for the strike and revised it on October 12. Like every Italian aviation strike, it applies the national framework that protects certain time bands and essential connections.
Under that framework, all easyJet flights scheduled to depart between 07:00 and 10:00 and between 18:00 and 21:00 Italian time must be operated, and the protection extends to charter departures in those windows. Island charter flights authorised or notified before the strike was declared are also covered.
Beyond the time bands, ENAC names five specific flights that must run. Four are island connections listed under the category for routes with a single daily frequency, while the fifth links Milan Malpensa with Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. Selected services from Naples and Milan Malpensa appear among the protected flights.
The document also protects domestic flights already in progress when the strike begins, international arrivals due within a short window after the start of the action, and departures that were scheduled before the strike but delayed for reasons outside the control of the parties involved.
An unlisted flight is not automatically cancelled
ENAC expressly allows easyJet to operate additional flights depending on how many crew members actually join the strike. The named services and time windows are therefore a minimum, not the complete list of flights that may operate on Friday.
No cancellation total has been published so far. Neither ENAC nor easyJet has said how many flights or passengers will be affected, and treating every departure outside the protected windows as cancelled would go beyond the official information. Naples Airport warned in a notice on October 9 that the strike could cause delays or cancellations.
The practical advice is the same at every Italian airport easyJet serves. Passengers should compare their scheduled departure time with the protected windows, check their route and flight number against ENAC's list, and keep an eye on easyJet's notifications and flight status. Buying a replacement ticket only because a flight does not appear on the guaranteed list could prove an unnecessary expense.
Passenger rights if a flight is cancelled
Where EU passenger-rights rules apply, travellers whose flight is cancelled are entitled to choose between a refund and rerouting, along with care such as meals and, where needed, accommodation while they wait.
The European Union's official guidance also draws a distinction that matters for compensation. A strike by an airline's own staff, organised by a union in support of workers' demands, does not automatically count as an extraordinary circumstance that would exempt the carrier from paying compensation. Eligibility still depends on the details, including how far in advance passengers were notified and the length of the disruption, so travellers should keep booking records, airline messages and receipts for any expenses.
A busy autumn for European crews
The Italian strike comes during an unsettled autumn for European airline crews. In France, flight-crew unions recently suspended a strike that had been planned for October 17 to 21 as pension talks advanced, removing one source of disruption for the coming week. easyJet itself is trimming seat capacity for the winter season as jet fuel prices stay high.
For Italy, the next development to watch is any further revision of ENAC's list, which the authority says can be updated to reflect schedule changes, and the airline's own confirmation of which flights will operate.
Sources: ENAC, Travel And Tour World, Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport strike register, Naples Airport, Your Europe.
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