Flights across Italy were severely disrupted on Friday after technical issues affected the data transmission network supporting air traffic control nationwide, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Air navigation service provider ENAV said it had introduced measures to regulate traffic flows as air traffic increased and technical anomalies persisted.
“Given the gradual increase in air traffic and the persistence of the anomalies, measures to regulate traffic flows were introduced to continue ensuring the highest level of operational safety,” ENAV said.
The measures included temporarily reducing the capacity to manage aircraft in Italian airspace.
Cyberattack ruled out
ENAV said the possibility of malicious activity had been ruled out, stressing that neither a hacker attack nor sabotage caused the disruption.
The anomalies were detected overnight in the geographical data transmission network supporting air traffic control services across the country, the company said.
As technical checks continued to identify the source of the fault, ENAV said it was investigating the causes and working to restore the systems.
Several airports across Italy reported flight delays and cancellations as a result of the disruption.
