Rome’s Ciampino airport, which is heavily used by budget airline Ryanair, was closed on Thursday after the discovery of three bombs dating back to World War Two, airport authorities said. An army bomb disposal team has been called into to defuse the explosives, the defense ministry said. The bombs weighed a combined 150 kg, and included some 75 kg of gunpowder. Rome authorities said the airport would be shut for three hours, with flights either delayed or redirected to Rome’s main airport, Fiumicino.<br/>
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Airline passengers are likely to face further flight delays and cancellations over the European summer because of shortages of air traffic controllers, the head of the German Aviation Association BDL warned Thursday. Europe’s airports are struggling to cope with greater demand for travel and a lack of capacity on the ground. Airlines have blamed air traffic control as the reason for flight delays last summer, citing strikes in France and staff shortages. On Monday, Ryanair’s CE said he expects a “torrid time” in the four months to June due to shortages of air traffic controllers. BDL President Klaus-Dieter Scheurle said he expects further disruption this year, despite the German aviation sector agreeing on measures last October to try to avoid backlogs. “We must expect that summer 2019 will also be difficult, but we will have to wait and see by how much,” Scheurle said in an online briefing. Germany’s air traffic control (DFS) has increased the number of training places to 120 and is trying to recruit trained air traffic controllers from abroad to ease the bottlenecks.<br/>
Travel websites like Expedia and Orbitz have quietly stopped selling airline tickets for Venezuela amid recent political turmoil, further isolating the socialist-run country after years of declining flight service. On Thursday, it was impossible to find on the popular websites any Venezuelan cities in the drop-down list of booking options for hotels and flights to the South American country. The Bellevue, Washington-based Expedia Group said the company was acting on behalf of travelers' wellbeing and in accordance with recent travel advice by foreign governments about crime and civil unrest. "Once governmental advice reaches a certain level of travel concern, we take action to close off destinations on our sites," a spokeswoman said. "This 'stop sell' will remain in effect until the situation in Venezuela improves and travel advice changes." The move comes after the US State Department on Jan. 29 said Americans shouldn't travel to Venezuela. The same advisory urged Americans to "consider departing while commercial flights are available." American Airlines, with two flights daily from Caracas to Miami, is the only remaining US carrier providing service to the country after Delta and United Airlines pulled out in 2017.<br/>
Thomas Cook said it was willing to sell its profitable airline business to raise cash to fund its fight back from losses racked up in 2018 and to cope with a tough year ahead, sending the travel group’s shares 12% higher. The oldest travel company in the world stumbled badly last year when a heatwave in northern Europe deterred holiday makers from booking lucrative last minute deals, leading to two major profit warnings and talk of a need to raise funds. The British group said it would consider all options for its airline. “Thomas Cook doesn’t need to own an airline outright to be a successful holiday company,” CE Peter Fankhauser said, adding a review was being conducted and the company would retain strong links to the carrier whatever the outcome. A sale, in whole or in part, would enable the company to invest more in its own hotels, improve its digital sales offering and drive further cost savings.<br/>