Italian Air Traffic Control Outage Cripples Half of Flights and Cancels 192
A glitch in a data transmission network reduced Italian air traffic control operations to about half capacity and led to the cancellation of 192 flights, before full capacity was restored on the same day.
A glitch in a data transmission network supporting air traffic control in Italy reduced ENAV's capacity to about half its normal level, leading to the cancellation of 192 flights by noon of the same day.
Cirium data showed that only about 31% of departing flights took off on time nationwide, while the rate was 25% at Milan Malpensa Airport and 28% at Rome Fiumicino Airport.
Full air traffic control capacity was restored on the same day, and sabotage or a cyberattack was ruled out, but the outage left a wave of delays and cancellations that extended to international flights.
Travelers in Europe are monitoring the impact of this outage on their plans, as disruption at a single control center often cascades across the entire flight network, making schedule recovery take longer than fixing the outage itself.
What do these terms mean?
Air Traffic Control: A service that regulates aircraft movement in the sky and ensures safe takeoff and landing, managed by ENAV in Italy.
Cyberattack: An attempt to breach or disrupt computer systems or networks remotely to damage or halt services.
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