Italy cuts airspace capacity after air traffic data network fails

Faults in the data transmission network behind Italy's air traffic control forced the national provider Enav to cut the number of aircraft handled in Italian airspace from 6am on Friday, delaying and cancelling flights across the country. Enav said the faults were detected during the night between Thursday and Friday, and ruled out a cyber attack and sabotage.

At Rome Fiumicino, at least four flights were cancelled — to Milan Linate, Riyadh, Tirana and Trieste — while other services reported delays of up to 60 minutes. Disruptions were also reported at Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa and Naples Capodichino, and airport operators urged passengers to check with their airlines.

Enav says traffic was managed normally, without any reduction in operating capacity, until 6am. The cut came exactly as the morning's flights required the network to work at full load: a fault a system absorbs overnight becomes a national event at rush hour.

The reach of the failure followed the shape of the system. Enav is Italy's sole air navigation service provider, and the failed network serves the whole of it; there is no second infrastructure for airlines to fall back on and no competitor to switch to. A fault in one transmission network registered at every major airport at once, and the capacity of the country's airspace was set by a single provider's morning statement — "a temporary reduction in the capacity to handle aircraft in Italian airspace," introduced "in order to continue guaranteeing the highest level of operational safety." The delays landed on airlines and the passengers behind them.

Enav said it had identified the source of the faults in the data transmission network and was working to determine the causes and restore full system operations. Airport operators asked passengers to check the status of their flights with their airlines.