Seagulls ground flights at Venice Airport

Venice may be called La Serenissima, but for anyone who's crossed paths with its local seagulls, the experience can be far from peaceful.

These gulls have earned a notorious reputation for snatching food from unsuspecting people dining outdoors, diving onto café terraces, shattering plates, swiping sandwiches from pedestrians, and even nibbling on fingers that get in the way.

Taking things to the next level, these feathered bandits caused a one-hour airport shutdown, triggering two hours of disruption at the city’s airport.

Venice Marco Polo Airport, situated to the north of the city with a runway alongside the lagoon, is Italy's fifth busiest and the largest airport in northern Italy, outside the Milan area.

However, on Friday morning, operations came to a standstill when a swarm of seagulls gathered at the end of the runway.

Flights were suspended from 9:54 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., as confirmed by an airport spokesperson to Dinogo. A total of 20 inbound flights were redirected to other northern Italian airports: Treviso, Verona, Trieste, and Milan.

While Treviso is just a quick 30-minute bus ride away, passengers rerouted to Trieste and Milan faced longer journeys, taking two to three hours to reach Venice.

As the airlines' larger aircraft diverted to airports without gulls, staff from the airport management company, SAVE, were busy implementing their usual bird-control procedures.

Venice Airport has a resident falcon, which was sent out by a falconer to scare off the 200 or so seagulls. The airport also used “fauna-friendly acoustic deterrents,” according to their official statement.

Once the falcon had done its job and the gulls had dispersed, the airport resumed normal operations by 11:20 a.m.

Venice isn't the only nearby airport with a resident falconer. Treviso, located about 14 miles inland from the lagoon, also employs one. Meanwhile, Verona, situated around 60 miles inland, is free from the seagull menace.

Large flocks of birds around airports pose a significant risk to aircraft safety.

Known as 'bird strikes,' these collisions can lead to engine failure and even cause crashes. Notable examples include the fatal crashes of Eastern Air Lines flight 375 in 1960, departing from Boston, and Ethiopian Airlines flight 604 in 1988, approaching Addis Ababa, both of which were caused by bird strikes.

Even Ryanair, Europe's top airline for safety, has had its own run-in with birds. In 2008, a flight from Frankfurt to Rome collided with a flock of starlings while approaching Ciampino Airport. Both engines failed, and although the plane made a safe landing, two crew members and eight passengers were hospitalized. The Boeing 737, only eight months old, was written off as a result.

One of the most famous bird strike incidents occurred in 2009 with the US Airways flight, known as the 'Miracle on the Hudson.' Taking off from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, the plane struck a flock of Canada geese, forcing Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger and his crew to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River.