Delays in Rome hit airlines

The Friday funeral for Pope John Paul II is having an impact on low cost and charter air carriers who operate out of Rome Ciampino, the airport closest to Rome.

The airport was closed Thursday, along with the airspace in and around Rome from 10.00 GMT until midnight on Friday as security precautions. Ryanair had to cancel all of its operations out of the airport.

Passengers were being put on new flights, mostly in and out of Pescara, 130 miles east of Rome.

48 of the carrier’s flights on Thursday, 46 on Friday, and all but four on Saturday were affected.

UK carrier EasyJet cancelled all of its Thursday and Friday flights, but were said to be rebooking passengers on flights in and out of Bologna.

The larger carriers, such as British Airways and Lufthansa, were not feeling as much of an effect on their operations since they fly out of Rome Fiumicino, which only lost 30 percent of its operating capacity instead of being closed outright.

British Airways had not cancelled any flights but was reporting flight delays of about 40 minutes in and out of Rome, and Lufthansa had cancelled two flights but said they expected to compensate by running larger planes on some flights.

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