Italy flight disruption causes 223 cancellations and 704 delays at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa

Disruption overview

On 5 July 2026, Italy's air network was hit by 223 cancellations and 704 delays, with Rome Fiumicino Airport and Milan Malpensa Airport seeing the biggest share of the disruption. Problems in Sicily, where labor action overlapped with renewed ash emissions near Catania Fontanarossa Airport, quickly spread through the system and affected airports from Venice to Naples. Airlines including Ryanair, Wizz Air, easyJet, ITA Airways, and several other European carriers were caught up in the knock-on impact. Because much of the disruption appears to have been caused by events outside airlines' control, compensation is usually unlikely, but passengers should still be offered rebooking or a refund, plus care and assistance during long waits.

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Disruption details

Italy's flight network was hit by 223 cancellations and 704 delays on 5 July 2026, with Rome Fiumicino Airport and Milan Malpensa Airport seeing the biggest share of the disruption. For passengers, this meant missed departures, long waits, and disrupted summer travel plans across the country.

Across Italy, 927 flights were affected in a single day, making it one of the worst disruption days of the summer so far. Thousands of passengers were left scrambling as problems at major hubs spread quickly to other airports and connecting services.

Some of the hardest-hit airports were:

• Rome Fiumicino Airport and Milan Malpensa Airport, which accounted for the largest share of canceled and delayed flights.

• Milan Malpensa Airport alone, where 81 flights were canceled and 19 were delayed.

• Venice Marco Polo Airport, Bergamo Orio al Serio Airport, Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport, Naples International Airport, Pisa International Airport, and Turin Airport, which all saw knock-on disruption.

A compound set of operational problems drove the disruption. In Sicily, intermittent labor action in the aviation sector overlapped with renewed ash emissions near Catania Fontanarossa Airport, creating a difficult operating environment for airlines serving the island.

That mix forced airlines to cancel, divert, or reroute flights linking Sicily with Rome, Milan, Naples, Pisa, and several European capitals. Once aircraft and crews were no longer where they needed to be for later departures, the disruption spread into mainland operations and later flights.

Low-cost carriers were among the most exposed. Ryanair, Wizz Air, and easyJet were hit hard because their tight turnaround schedules leave little room to absorb delays. Ryanair alone canceled 27 departures from Milan Malpensa Airport.

Major European airlines were also affected, including Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, British Airways, Vueling, Iberia, SAS, Icelandair, Swiss, TAP Air Portugal, and ITA Airways. Delayed inbound flights then put onward connections at risk through major hubs across Europe.

Because Italy sits at the center of Europe's route map, the disruption didn't stop at the country's borders. Delays rippled into Paris, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, and Zurich, while some airlines trimmed schedules and swapped aircraft to keep part of their service running.

That helped preserve partial service, but it also led to missed connections, seat changes, and more uncertainty for travelers on tight schedules.

If you're flying in or out of Italy, it's worth checking your flight status closely and allowing extra time at the airport while airlines work to stabilize their schedules for the rest of the busy summer period.

Because much of this disruption was linked to volcanic ash and wider strike action outside the airlines' control, compensation is usually unlikely under EC 261.

That doesn't mean you're without support. If your flight was canceled or heavily delayed, your airline should still help with rebooking or a refund, as well as food, refreshments, and accommodation if you were left waiting overnight. If you'd like to check what may apply to your trip, AirHelp's free flight checker is a simple place to start.

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