Italy has said it will start allowing unrestricted travel to and from European countries, with no quarantine requirement, from June 3. No official word yet on when restrictions will be lifted on flights to and from countries outside of Europe – but the external borders of the EU remain closed to non-essential travel until June 15 at the earliest.

So until June 3, only certain people are allowed in – Italian citizens and residents, flight crew too, and citizens/residents of other European countries needing to pass through Italy to go home. Here’s the Notam:

After June 3, people will be allowed to travel freely from and to the following States:

• EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic;
• Schengen countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland;
• United Kingdom and Northern Ireland;
• Other weird places: Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City.

Check out the Italian Government’s official webpage for more details on this, plus what is actually a pretty decent breakdown of the general rules on travel to Italy.

Ultimately, all permitted inbound travellers headed to Italy before June 3 must sign a form confirming their travel is essential. Flight crew must self-isolate at the hotel, although they can leave for their outbound flight at any time. After June 3, all this goes away.

Meanwhile, across the border in France…

Notams have now been published advising of the planned nationwide ATC strike on Friday Oct 25.

The strike will happen between 13-17 local time (11-15z), although it looks like the LIBB/Brindisi sector in the south-east of the country will run from 12-16 local time.

When these 4-hour strikes go ahead, overflights and “incoming intercontinental flights” (i.e. those from outside Europe) are normally not significantly affected, but there are often big delays for flights to/from Italian airports.

LIRZ/Perugia airport has also announced a local ATC strike between 1300-1700 local time the same day. There may be more local airport-level ATC strikes announced in the coming days, so watch out for those too, as these are the airports which are always worst affected by delays.

You can see the full Notam for the nationwide strike here. For updates, keep an eye on the Eurocontrol NOP page on the day of the strike. Eurocontrol will be hosting a teleconference with more info on what to expect, on Thursday 24th Oct at 1200z; you can dial in on +44 2071 928000, and punch in the conference ID number 1581056.

Further reading:

• All the latest official information about Italy ATC strikes can be found here. Just make sure you have your Google Translate tool enabled on your browser!

Controllers at all the ACC sectors were planning to take part, and additional strikes were planned at the local level at at the following airports: LIRA/Rome Ciampino, LIRF/Rome Fiumicino, LIEE/Cagliari, LICC/Catania, LICA/Lamezia, LICJ/Palermo, LIBP/Pescara, LIPZ/Venice

But now the strike has been cancelled. Normal ops now expected at all ACC’s and airports across the country.

Further reading:

• All the latest official information about Italy ATC strikes can be found here. Just make sure you have your Google Translate tool enabled on your browser!