Major delays at Italian airports due to data network failure

ROME, Oct 16 - Air travellers faced delays and cancellations across Italy on Friday due to a technical fault affecting air traffic control, which authorities said was not caused by malicious activity.Air traffic authority ENAV said it introduced temporary restrictions on air traffic capacity after detecting anomalies overnight on the data transmission network supporting air traffic control services nationwide.As of around 1000 GMT, aviation analytics company Cirium counted 192 cancellations, and found that only around 31% of flights from Italian airports had departed on time, falling to 25% at Milan's Malpensa and 28% at Rome's Fiumicino.ENAV said it had managed to restore 75% of airports' operational capacity using a secondary satellite network and was still working with suppliers to restore the full functionality of the primary data network.Rome airports operator ADR said that "due to technical issues affecting air traffic control systems nationwide, flight delays and cancellations may occur", and advised passengers to contact their airline.Milan airports company SEA issued a similar notice, and separately added that a 24-hour strike by cabin staff at low-cost airline EasyJet could cause further travel disruptions. REUTERS