Italy Air Strike, Guaranteed Flights List for Dec 17

A national air transport strike is set to disrupt flights across Italy, with the most acute impact concentrated in a four hour window that can trigger cancellations, longer queues, and rolling knock on delays through the rest of the day. Travelers flying domestically within Italy, connecting through major hubs, or departing Italy on long haul routes are most exposed, especially if they are checking bags or relying on short same day connections. The practical move is to check whether your flight sits inside the protected time bands or appears on ENAC's guaranteed list, then decide early whether to keep the trip, retime into the protected windows, or reroute by rail where it makes sense.

The Italy air transport strike December 17 matters because ENAC's published attachments spell out which flights should still operate, and when airlines must protect departures, giving travelers unusually specific decision tools before they commit to the airport.

ENAC's strike notice frames the walkout as a four hour national action from 100 p.m. to 500 p.m. local time, covering Rome area air traffic control at the ENAV Rome ACC, plus handling personnel tied to Assohandlers operating across Italian airports, and airline personnel groups including ITA Airways and Vueling, with Air France and KLM ground handling also listed. Even when a flight is not canceled, that mix can slow the system in two places at once, first in the airspace layer that sequences arrivals and departures, and second on the ground layer that turns aircraft around, moves bags, and staffs customer facing functions.

The key nuance for travelers is how the strike window interacts with Italy's protected time bands. ENAC notes two daily protection periods, 700 a.m. to 1000 a.m. and 600 p.m. to 900 p.m., during which flights must still be operated, even on strike days. Airlines often respond by proactively trimming midday schedules and retiming some flights into those bands, which is why a "still scheduled" status can change quickly in the 24 hours before departure.

What is new, and unusually actionable, is the level of detail in the guaranteed flights attachment for this specific strike. In plain language, it preserves certain island lifeline links that run with a single daily frequency, plus selected intercontinental departures, and it also states that flights already airborne at the start of the strike must still be able to complete their trip to destination. For travelers, that means you can separate "high risk midday short haul" from "protected bands and named guaranteed flights," and plan accordingly.

For island connectivity, the attachment names specific services such as Lampedusa Airport (LMP) to Catania Fontanarossa Airport (CTA), Florence Airport (FLR) to Catania, Turin Airport (TRN) to Catania, Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) to Catania, Pisa International Airport (PSA) to Palermo Airport (PMO), and Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ) to Cagliari Elmas Airport (CAG). If your trip depends on an island flight, do not assume all island routes are protected, verify your flight number against the attachment, and be ready for delays even when the service operates because baggage and boarding can still bottleneck.

For long haul travel, the same attachment highlights a set of intercontinental departures from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO) and Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), spanning Gulf, North American, and Asia routes, plus a smaller set from Verona Villafranca Airport (VRN). The practical takeaway is not that every long haul flight is "safe," it is that some long haul departures are explicitly safeguarded, which can justify holding a trip that would otherwise be an automatic reroute decision.

Who Is Affected

The obvious risk group is anyone booked on flights scheduled during the 100 p.m. to 500 p.m. strike window, including same day domestic hops that feed onward international departures. A second high risk group is travelers with tight connections earlier or later in the day, because a mid afternoon slowdown can strand aircraft and crews out of position, then cascade into evening delays that survive well past the official end of the walkout.

Travelers connecting through Rome Fiumicino or Milan Malpensa should treat the strike as a network event, not just an airport event. A Rome area air traffic control action can affect flows into and out of multiple airports, and handling participation can reduce the rate at which aircraft can be turned, bags can be processed, and boarding can be completed, which is exactly how "a four hour strike" becomes an all day reliability problem.

Passengers checking bags, traveling with sports gear, strollers, or multiple suitcases, or needing special assistance are more exposed because those touch points depend heavily on ground staffing. Even if you are flying a carrier not named in the union notice, you can still feel the disruption if your airline's contracted ground handler is short staffed, if ramp congestion slows departures, or if inbound aircraft arrive late and break your aircraft rotation.

Finally, airport level notices show that the affected groups can vary slightly by location. For example, Naples International Airport (NAP) lists the same four hour national strike window and includes easyJet flight personnel among the involved groups at that airport. If you are flying from a secondary airport, check that airport's own advisory page in addition to ENAC, because the most traveler relevant information is often the local operational guidance about check in, security queues, and day of contact options.

What Travelers Should Do

Start with triage that you can do in ten minutes. Confirm whether your departure time falls inside the protected bands, and whether your flight number appears on ENAC's guaranteed list, then turn on app notifications for both your operating carrier and your departure airport. If you must travel, plan to arrive earlier than normal, and if you are checking bags, build extra time for bag drop and for baggage delivery on arrival, because handling participation is one of the main variables that can turn a normal airport day into a long queue day.

Use clear thresholds for rebooking versus waiting. If your flight is outside the protected time bands and you have a tight onward connection, a cruise embarkation, or a fixed tour start, it is usually smarter to move to a morning protected departure, an evening protected departure, or the next day, rather than gambling on same day recovery. If your flight is inside a protected band or explicitly listed as guaranteed, it can still depart late, but the odds favor waiting, especially when you have a single ticket itinerary where the airline must reroute you if disruption occurs.

Over the next 24 to 72 hours, monitor for retimings, not just cancellations. Airlines often reshuffle aircraft to concentrate flying into the protected windows, and that can change your check in time, your gate, and your connection feasibility even if the flight still operates. For domestic city pairs where rail is viable, price and time check a same day high speed train as a backup, particularly on corridors like Rome to Florence, Rome to Milan, and Milan to Bologna, because those options can be purchased quickly if your flight slips. If you are traveling to or from islands, focus instead on confirming whether your specific service is protected, and on having a same day accommodation buffer in case the last flight you needed is consolidated or delayed.

Background

Italy treats air transport as an essential public service, which is why strikes are allowed but bounded by minimum service rules that preserve basic mobility. In practice, that framework produces two traveler facing protections, the daily time bands when scheduled flights must operate, and a published guaranteed flight list that can include emergency and state flights, certain island lifelines, and selected long haul services.

Operationally, strikes propagate through the travel system in predictable layers. First order effects show up at the source, airspace sequencing slows when air traffic control participation is material, and on the ground, aircraft turn times expand when ramp, baggage, and customer service staffing is thin. Second order effects appear as misconnects and crew flow problems, because a delayed inbound aircraft can break an entire evening bank, and a crew that times out can force a cancellation even after the strike ends. Third order ripples spill into land side travel, where taxi queues grow, airport rail services and roads can crowd as travelers rebook, and hotels near major stations and airports see last minute demand from stranded passengers.

For travelers who want more context on how ENAC's protections typically play out, Italy Air Transport Strike, September 26: Timetable and Plan explains how airlines commonly compress schedules into the protected windows. For rail backup thinking when flights wobble, Italy General Strike Hits Trains, Airport Links Dec 12, 2025 provides a practical framework for avoiding tight rail to flight transfers and building surface alternatives.

Sources

• Scioperi nel trasporto aereo, comunicazioni ENAC
• Voli garantiti in caso di sciopero (ENAC)
• Elenco voli garantiti, scioperi 17 dicembre 2025 (ENAC PDF)
• Wednesday 17 December, National strikes of air transport (Naples Airport)
• Scioperi, Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport strike calendar