Italian airport strike to ground hundreds of flights Tuesday

A miserable summer for airline passengers is set to continue Tuesday, when aviation workers in Italy will be striking for 24 hours. Airport, airline and air-traffic control staff are stopping work in a coordinated move in disputes over pay and conditions. Alitalia has cancelled half its flights for May 21, together with some flights scheduled for the late evening of Monday and the early morning of Wednesday. More than 300 departures have been grounded. The carrier is hoping to operate all flights during the peak times between 7-10am and 6-9pm, Italian time. The airline said: “Alitalia has taken special measures to mitigate customer inconvenience by operating bigger aircraft on domestic and international routes.” <br/>