Europe

Alitalia cancels flights Monday due to strike

Associated Press
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In this picture taken Wednesday, May 7, 2014, Alitalia planes are parked on the tarmac prior to take off from the Linate airport, in Milan, Italy. Unions representing Alitalia workers on Friday, March 17, 2017, announced a strike on April 5 to protest deep job and salary cuts as part of a new plan to relaunch the struggling airline. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 file photo, demonstrators, including Italian airliner Alitalia's workers, gather during a strike in front of Leonardo da Vinci International airport in Fiumicino, some 30 kilometers from Rome. Unions representing Alitalia workers on Friday, March 17, 2017, announced a strike on April 5 to protest deep job and salary cuts as part of a new plan to relaunch the struggling airline. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File) (The Associated Press)

Alitalia has cancelled 40 percent of its flights on Monday due to strikes, as it meets with unions to discuss layoffs under a new business plans.

The airline said Friday that cancellations were due to a four-hour strike by air traffic controllers and a 24-hour strike by unions operating in the transport sector. It said flights during morning and afternoon peak travel hours would operate on schedule, and that bigger planes would be deployed to carry as many passengers as possible both domestically and internationally.

Unions, meanwhile, pledged broader mobilization to protest cuts announced as part of a broad plan to relaunch the airline and compete on short-haul routes with low-cost carriers. The news agency ANSA, citing union sources, reported that more than 2,000 layoffs are expected.