Flight compensation in Italy

Rules and amounts

Regulation 261/2004 applies to every departure from Rome-Fiumicino, Milan-Malpensa, Bergamo, Venice, Naples, Bologna, Catania and other Italian airports, and to inbound flights on EU airlines (ITA Airways, Ryanair, easyJet Europe, Wizz Air Malta, Volotea…). Amounts: €250 / €400 / €600. Domestic flights, including Sardinia and Sicily, pay €250.

Departures, arrivals and who is covered

• Departing Italy: every airline is covered, and ENAC is the competent body whatever the airline’s nationality — Ryanair and Wizz Air as much as ITA Airways.
• Arriving in Italy from outside Europe: only EU/EEA-licensed airlines. ITA Airways from New York or Tokyo, yes; Delta, United, Emirates or Qatar Airways into Rome or Milan, no — their legs into Italy are governed by the Montreal Convention and their own conditions.
• From the UK to Italy: UK261 on any airline, with the CAA and the UK ADR schemes; from Italy to the UK: EU261 on any airline, with ENAC.

Enforcement: ENAC

The Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile is the Article 16 body for flights departing Italian airports on any airline and for flights arriving in Italy from outside the EU on EU airlines. It receives complaints only through the online form in the “Passeggeri” section of its portal, and only after you have complained to the airline (or, on a package holiday, the tour operator): you can file when the airline has not answered six weeks after receiving your complaint, or when its answer is unsatisfactory, and within two years of the flight. ENAC investigates and can impose administrative sanctions on airlines that breached the Regulation; it says itself that its activity is not aimed at satisfying passengers’ compensation claims — the file supports a settlement or a later court claim, but the money comes from the airline or the court. ENAC also warns that, because of a dispute in Italian case law, some airlines refuse complaints made more than six months after the disruption, so claim from the airline within six months whatever the deadline. ENAC publishes the Carta dei diritti del passeggero, which airlines operating in Italy must display.

Courts and the limitation period

The Giudice di Pace (justice of the peace) hears claims about movable property up to €10,000 (Article 7 of the Code of Civil Procedure, since 28 February 2023); below €1,100 you can appear without a lawyer (Article 82), and the procedure is designed for consumers. The European Small Claims Procedure is available for cross-border claims up to €5,000. Italian courts have generally applied the two-year period of the Montreal Convention (through the Navigation Code) to compensation claims — some decisions favour longer periods, but two years from the flight is the safe assumption.

Strikes in Italy: the protected bands and the guaranteed flights

Air transport is an essential public service under Law 146/1990, and the Commissione di garanzia’s sector rules (delibera 14/387) set what must fly during a strike. A strike needs at least ten days’ notice (fifteen where charters may be cancelled) and appears on the Ministry of Transport’s strike calendar; the first strike in a dispute lasts at most four hours, later ones at most 24. During a strike, every scheduled departure in the bands 07:00–10:00 and 18:00–21:00 — charters included — must operate, as must international arrivals within half an hour of those bands; outside the bands each airline must still fly one intercontinental departure per continent, one daily return to and from the islands, and island charters. ENAC identifies the guaranteed flights for each strike and publishes the list (voli garantiti). No strikes may be called at all from 18 December to 7 January, 24 April to 2 May, 27 June to 4 July, 27 July to 5 September, 30 October to 5 November, during Easter week or around national elections.

Two consequences for a claim. An airline that cancels a flight inside a protected band, or a flight on ENAC’s guaranteed list, “because of the strike” has a weak case — those flights were required to operate. And a strike by the airline’s own pilots or crew — ITA Airways, Ryanair’s Italian crews, ground-handling companies the airline employs — is not extraordinary at all under Airhelp v SAS. Strikes by ENAV air-traffic controllers or airport handlers employed by someone else can be extraordinary for the flights they actually held, once the airline shows it could not re-route you.

Carrier-dependent cases in Italy

• Ryanair is Italy’s largest carrier; most Italian flights are operated by Malta Air under the FR code. For departures from Italy that changes nothing — ENAC is competent and the Regulation applies in full. Ryanair accepts claims only through its own EU261 form.
• ITA Airways (flying since October 2021) is an EU carrier: covered on every departure and on inbound long-haul flights. Claims relating to flights operated by the former Alitalia before that date go to Alitalia’s extraordinary administration, not to ITA.
• easyJet Europe, Wizz Air Malta, Volotea, Aeroitalia are EU carriers with the same coverage; the operating entity on the boarding pass matters only for arrivals from outside Europe.

Practical workflow for an Italian departure

1. Claim in writing from the operating airline within six months of the flight, with the flight, the arrival delay or the cancellation notice and the amount per passenger; keep the reference.
2. After an unsatisfactory answer or six weeks of silence, file a complaint with ENAC through its online form, attaching the claim and the answer (within two years of the flight).
3. If the airline still does not pay, bring a claim before the Giudice di Pace — well within two years of the flight.