Holiday chaos as airline suspends flights

Chaos at Sicily's Catania airport.

Excited holidaymakers became angry ones after they were told all flights on the Italian budget airline Windjet had been suspended.

The low-cost carrier began cancelling flights on Sunday leaving at least 300 hundred passengers stranded over the peak holiday weekend.

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ANGRY PASSENGER, ROBERTO, SAYING:

"I have been here 24 hours, I should have got a plane to Florence, to return to work, my holidays are about to finish."

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ANGRY PASSENGER, MARIA, SAYING:

"We had paid 424 euros to Wind Jet for 2 adults and 2 children. Now we have had to pay an extra 339 euros to go from Catania to Verona."

The suspension comes after takeover talks with Italy's national carrier Alitalia broke down at the last moment.

Windjet is unhappy about conditions surrounding the re-employment of 500 of its staff while Alitalia says it won't be able to keep enough domestic landing slots.

Hundreds of jobs at Windjet are now at risk.

Italy's aviation authority has set up a crisis to help passengers find alternative flights.

But warned there could be more chaos on the way as an estimated 300,000 bookings will be affected between now and October.

Hayley Platt, Reuters.