(ANSA) - Fiumicino, July 31 - Premier Matteo Renzi said Friday that authorities are working to "ascertain responsibilities" behind Rome's Fiumicino airport chaos, as civil aviation authority ENAC said Friday that this week's crisis at Rome's Fiumicino airport caused by nearby fires was over.
"The critical phase is over," ENAC said. "Today's operation seem in line with those for the period, with some not-particularly-significant delays, both for low-cost and traditional companies".
"Fiumicino airport is a key hub for the future of the country," the premier said. An investigation is ongoing "into whether the latest events were casual or intended...we are verifying at all levels in order to ascertain responsibilities and possible culprits," he said.
"We must all make an extra effort...to face what needs to be faced, with a strategic vision for the coming years," said Renzi. "We must invest a lot in airport structures".
The premier spoke after the capital city's international airport suffered three days of chaos due to a nearby forest fire and a temporary blackout. Carabinieri military police had to intervene Thursday - after an electrical short circuit plunged the airport briefly into a blackout - to restore order as some 100 passengers laid siege to the Vueling desk at Fiumicino's Terminal 3.
On Wednesday, a nearby forest fire caused smoke to billow onto the runways, causing major delays just as the airport was finally recovering from damages caused by a fire in Terminal 3 in early May that caused major disruptions for several weeks.
Irate passengers protested Friday as further long flight delays that persisted for a third day after a fire near Rome's Fiumicino airport earlier this week threw the beleaguered facility into another spell of chaos.
Tension between airport officials and passengers erupted anew when about 100 passengers arrived just after 5am with Spanish low cost airline Vueling after leaving some nine hours late from Turin en route to Palermo or Catania.
On landing in Rome passengers were told no connecting flight to Sicily immediately was available, turning what should have been a simple domestic flight into "a real odyssey," they told reporters.
A fire in woodland near the airport on Wednesday evening blanketed the facility with smoke, meaning passengers sat in aircraft on the tarmac for hours waiting to take off in the latest of a series of dramas at the facility that have led national carrier Alitalia to threaten to move its operations elsewhere.
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