The work of an investigation commission charged with clarifying the origin of the radar system failure that blocked air traffic at Milan-Linate for about two hours on Saturday 28 June begins today; a report will also be produced later. This was stated by Pierluigi Di Palma, president of Enac (Italian Civil Aviation Authority). The aim is to clarify what caused the "zero rate", or the complete suspension of all connections: as communicated by the national agency for flight safety Enav (see AVIONEWS), "a failure occurred in the radar data transmission system at the Area Control Centre (Acc) in Milan, responsible for managing air traffic in north-west Italy. The problem concerned the connectivity that allows the flow of radar data to the operations room and which is guaranteed by an external telecommunications provider, namely Tim". "The failure affected both the main and reserve links of the Enet operational network, which redundantly connects all Enav sites", the company continued in a statement. "The other components of the network - including those relating to voice, flight data, weather information and Notam - continued to function regularly, as did the ACC processing and presentation systems".

In response to Enav, however, Tim clarified in a note (see AVIONEWS): "Data transmission is guaranteed by redundant systems so that, if one channel does not work, another backup channel is activated". "In noting that the radar's operation depends on different systems attributable to different operators and on the basis of the information in our possession, Tim considers itself extraneous to the facts" concluded the operator.

The passengers will not receive compensation because the problem was caused by force majeure, as stated by the president of Enac. There was no shortage of denunciation by Codacons (Coordination of associations for the defense of the environment and the rights of users and consumers): "What happened represents a very serious episode that has brought the air transport sector to its knees, involving thousands and thousands of passengers. An even more serious disservice because it occurs in the summer period, when the departures of Italians for holidays and pleasure trips increase".