Check 6
8th Feb 2002, 15:53
Italy Daily - Herald International Tribune. .Milan, Friday, February 8, 2002
The government fired the board of the national flight control authority ENAV on Thursday night and named attorney Massimo Varazzani as interim commissioner.
At press time, the government had yet to provide an official explanation. However, the move was not unexpected after ENAV Chairman Giulio Spano sparked alarm by remarking he could not vouch for the safety of air transport in the wake of Italy's worst air disaster late last year.
"Today, more than ever before, I don't feel I can guarantee air safety," Mr. Spano told the Transport Committee of Parliament's lower house last month.
Milan prosecutors investigating the air disaster at Milan's Linate Airport, which killed 118, found that ENAV exerted leverage on the contracts awarded at the airport. A Transport Ministry probe also highlighted a series of safety procedure violations of which ENAV was indicated as responsible.
The airport's ground radar system had not been working for more than a year when the accident occurred on a foggy Oct 8. Runway stop signs were also said to be inadequate in the report.
Seven people have been placed under investigation in connection with the disaster, including two top ENAV officials.
Mr. Spano's doubts about air safety came shortly after the EU reduced the minimum vertical safety distance between planes, raising more concerns.
They also came amid regular sparring between Mr. Spano and ENAV CEO Sandro Gualano.
Mr. Varazzani has a background in banking and an accomplished record of turning around ailing firms.
Most analysts expect his interim administration will be a prelude to a larger reform in which the role of ENAV, to which air traffic controllers report, will be reduced in favor of an enlarged ENAC, as Italy's civil aviation authority is know, in order to clarify accountability and reduce turf wars.
The government fired the board of the national flight control authority ENAV on Thursday night and named attorney Massimo Varazzani as interim commissioner.
At press time, the government had yet to provide an official explanation. However, the move was not unexpected after ENAV Chairman Giulio Spano sparked alarm by remarking he could not vouch for the safety of air transport in the wake of Italy's worst air disaster late last year.
"Today, more than ever before, I don't feel I can guarantee air safety," Mr. Spano told the Transport Committee of Parliament's lower house last month.
Milan prosecutors investigating the air disaster at Milan's Linate Airport, which killed 118, found that ENAV exerted leverage on the contracts awarded at the airport. A Transport Ministry probe also highlighted a series of safety procedure violations of which ENAV was indicated as responsible.
The airport's ground radar system had not been working for more than a year when the accident occurred on a foggy Oct 8. Runway stop signs were also said to be inadequate in the report.
Seven people have been placed under investigation in connection with the disaster, including two top ENAV officials.
Mr. Spano's doubts about air safety came shortly after the EU reduced the minimum vertical safety distance between planes, raising more concerns.
They also came amid regular sparring between Mr. Spano and ENAV CEO Sandro Gualano.
Mr. Varazzani has a background in banking and an accomplished record of turning around ailing firms.
Most analysts expect his interim administration will be a prelude to a larger reform in which the role of ENAV, to which air traffic controllers report, will be reduced in favor of an enlarged ENAC, as Italy's civil aviation authority is know, in order to clarify accountability and reduce turf wars.