Italy's air transport sector Tuesday fell into chaos due to a strike by air traffic controllers, while national carrier Alitalia was also hit by a strike by cabin staff.

 

Over 300 flights had to be canceled at Rome's Fiumicino airport due to the two strikes, from local time 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, some 200 of them belonging to Alitalia, according to local media reports.

 

Another 57 departures and 40 arrivals by other carriers also had to be canceled in Rome because of the air traffic controllers strike.

 

Nationwide, Alitalia said it was forced to cancel 394 flights.

 

Alitalia staff have been staging protests for the past week in an effort to break the deadlock over the renewal of their contract which expired at the end of last year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2007)