Venice Airport Shuts Down as Seagull Flock Forces Flight Diversions

On Friday, Venice airport was closed for over an hour and flights had to be redirected due to a large group of seagulls present in the area. Marco Polo Airport, located in the northeastern part of the Italian city, stopped operations at 09:45 local time (07:45 GMT). Flights were rerouted to other airports such as Treviso, Verona, Trieste, and Milan until the situation was under control and regular operations resumed at 11:20. Bird strikes are most common during take-off and landing, posing a risk of damage to aircraft. The airport issued an apology to affected passengers for the disruption. Due to the closure, ten flights scheduled to depart between 09:40 and 12:15 were canceled and several others faced delays. Additionally, four arriving flights were canceled in the morning, with many others experiencing delays or being redirected. Venice airport is an important hub, with more than nine million passengers using it last year and almost 8,000 flights transiting through it last month. Seagulls are a familiar sight in the city, and last year, local hotels attempted to keep the birds away from tourists by leaving orange water pistols in the rooms. Paolo Lorenzini, director of the Gritti Hotel, mentioned that the seagulls were frightened by the sight of the pistols and would fly away without even needing to use them.