National flight assistance company
ENAC SpA on Thursday asked ADR Fiumicino airport manager to come
up with a plan to improve the flow of air traffic at Rome's
international airport during critical situations.
The company issued the statement after a meeting with ADR
and Alitalia airline to assess management of the fallout from a
July 29 emergency, when the airport was forced to temporarily
shut down its runways due to the amount of smoke billowing in
from a nearby forest fire.
Delays and disruptions because of the smoke-blocked runways
continued into the following day, with delays of up to three
hours for some domestic and European flights.
"There were 90 arriving flights and 40 departing ones, and
this led to a congestion of both planes and passengers," the
statement said.
Ongoing infrastructural work at the airport added to the
congestion, ENAC said.
The agency added that a current tender offer for baggage
handling services will limit to three the number of companies
operating at Fiumicino, and this should make operations more
efficient.
However, the ultimate responsibility for handling traffic
during an emergency lay with the airport manager, ENAC said.
"(ENAC requests) clearer and more stringent criteria be
issued in view of an EU directive taking effect in 2017, which
says the airport operator is responsible for balancing the flow
of arrivals and departures," the statement said.
ENAC also called for improvements in fire fighters'
procedures at the airport, and coordination of all involved
entities including companies providing assistance on land,
airlines and ENAV civil aviation authority.
As well, ENAC asked ADR and Alitalia to increase ground
staff for passenger information and assistance in view of
increased traffic at the weekend and throughout next week.
"It's hard to fault ADR for lack of investments, because it
has invested over one billion euros in Fiumicino in four years,"
said Deputy Transport Minister Riccardo Nencini.
"The investments are there - ADR is investing over 400
million euros next year," he said.
"The Vueling low-cost airline will be sanctioned by ENAC
because it failed to provide complete passenger assistance,"
Nencini added.
Carabinieri military police had to intervene to restore
order as some 100 passengers laid siege to the Vueling desk,
where chaos reigned well into the day following the forest fire.
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