Italy woke to widespread disruption on 14 November 2025 as multiple unions coordinated walk-outs that hit every layer of the country’s mobility infrastructure. The Air Traffic Trade Association (ASTRA) triggered the most visible impact with a four-hour national stoppage of ENAV air-traffic-control staff from 13:00 to 17:00 CET, forcing airlines to thin schedules at all 45 Italian airports, including the hubs of Rome-Fiumicino and Milan-Malpensa. easyJet’s Italian flying crews and the Spanish carrier Volotea staged overlapping actions, while Rome’s ATAC transit operator endured a 24-hour strike affecting buses, trams and the metro system.
The strikes form part of a broader wave of labour protests that has been building through November over wage stagnation and working-conditions clauses in Italy’s 2026 budget. Unions chose mid-afternoon for the ATC stoppage to maximise flight disruption outside the legally protected ‘guarantee bands’, although Italy’s civil-aviation authority ENAC confirmed that peak-morning (07:00-10:00) and late-evening (18:00-21:00) flights would be safeguarded. Airlines pre-emptively cancelled or retimed hundreds of services in order to protect long-haul rotations and minimise overnight crew displacements.
![Nationwide air-traffic and public-transport strikes bring travel chaos across Italy]()
Travellers in Rome faced a double blow: reduced flight operations at Fiumicino and Ciampino plus curtailed urban transport. ATAC’s strike exempted only the statutory rush-hour windows (06:00-09:00 and 18:00-21:00), creating lengthy queues at taxi ranks and rental-car desks. Business travellers connecting to high-speed rail were advised to add two hours to transfer times between airport terminals and Roma Termini.
Corporate mobility managers activated contingency plans that include remote-work directives, re-routing through neighbouring hubs such as Zurich and Nice, and switching executives to Italy’s Frecciarossa high-speed rail where possible. Employers with posted-worker obligations were reminded that Italian labour law requires strike-day wage payments only if the employee presented at the workplace and was unable to work due to the disruption—an important compliance nuance for multinational HR teams.
Looking ahead, the radical USB union has called another nationwide strike for 28 November, while mainstream confederation CGIL plans a separate walk-out on 12 December. Mobility stakeholders therefore face a rolling calendar of disruption in the run-up to the Christmas peak, underlining the need for flexible travel policies and real-time itinerary monitoring.
The strikes form part of a broader wave of labour protests that has been building through November over wage stagnation and working-conditions clauses in Italy’s 2026 budget. Unions chose mid-afternoon for the ATC stoppage to maximise flight disruption outside the legally protected ‘guarantee bands’, although Italy’s civil-aviation authority ENAC confirmed that peak-morning (07:00-10:00) and late-evening (18:00-21:00) flights would be safeguarded. Airlines pre-emptively cancelled or retimed hundreds of services in order to protect long-haul rotations and minimise overnight crew displacements.
Travellers in Rome faced a double blow: reduced flight operations at Fiumicino and Ciampino plus curtailed urban transport. ATAC’s strike exempted only the statutory rush-hour windows (06:00-09:00 and 18:00-21:00), creating lengthy queues at taxi ranks and rental-car desks. Business travellers connecting to high-speed rail were advised to add two hours to transfer times between airport terminals and Roma Termini.
Corporate mobility managers activated contingency plans that include remote-work directives, re-routing through neighbouring hubs such as Zurich and Nice, and switching executives to Italy’s Frecciarossa high-speed rail where possible. Employers with posted-worker obligations were reminded that Italian labour law requires strike-day wage payments only if the employee presented at the workplace and was unable to work due to the disruption—an important compliance nuance for multinational HR teams.
Looking ahead, the radical USB union has called another nationwide strike for 28 November, while mainstream confederation CGIL plans a separate walk-out on 12 December. Mobility stakeholders therefore face a rolling calendar of disruption in the run-up to the Christmas peak, underlining the need for flexible travel policies and real-time itinerary monitoring.
