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| Title: Italy strike hits air travellers |
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From: Reproduced with permission from BBC News at bbcnews.com |
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Date: 22/05/2007 |
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Thousands of passengers across Europe have been stranded because of a strike by air traffic controllers and flight attendants in Italy.
British Airways, Lufthansa, Iberia and other airlines said they had cancelled dozens of flights to and from Italy.
Among the stranded were some 7,000 AC Milan fans travelling to Athens for Wednesday’s Champions League final.
The strike is taking place from 0800 GMT to 1600 GMT as a result of a row over contract negotiations.
Flight attendants of Italy’s national carrier, Alitalia, are also on strike.
They are demanding that rules regulating the number of crew members and the hours of rest between flights be observed to the letter.
Strikes, competition from low-cost competitors and high fuel costs have plagued Alitalia, which has cancelled a total of almost 400 flights scheduled for Tuesday as a result of the action.
About 30 flights were cancelled on Monday because of the rule-book protest, according to reports in Italy.
And a strike by Alitalia flight attendants on 3 May forced the airline to cancel 350 flights.
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