Rome - A fine by Italy's air traffic authority added Thursday fresh woes to troubled carrier Alitalia as a wildcat strike continued to disrupt its flight schedule.

Alitalia faces a penalty of 250,000 euro (313,000 dollars) for causing a "disservice" to passengers in failing to honour flight schedules, an ENAC authority spokeswoman, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

By late Thursday morning over a dozen Alitalia flights had been cancelled at Rome's Fiumicino airport while a total of some 13 were scrapped at Milan's Linate and Malpensa airports, the ANSA news agency reported. Several departure and arrival delays were also reported.

The disruptions marked the third straight day of a wildcat strike by pilots, flight attendants and ground staff.

The workers are protesting what they say is a breach of terms agreed with a private consortium which is in the process of buying the state's controlling stake in Alitalia.

However, unions representing most of Alitalia's 17,000 employees are not supporting the stoppage which has been declared illegal by Prime Minister Berlusconi's government.

Alitalia's bankruptcy commissioner, Augusto Fantozzi, has said the airline has mandated its lawyers to pursue legal action against striking employees.

On Wednesday, the European Commission gave its go-ahead to the consortium Compagnia Aerea Italiana's (CAI) takeover of Alitalia but said a 300-million-euro Italian state loan to the airline was "illegal" and must been reimbursed.

The so-called "bridge loan" was granted by the previous government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi on April 22 as a means to ensure its short-term survival amid falling passenger numbers and soaring debts.

Alitalia, which is facing debts of more then 1.2 billion euros (1.5 billion dollars), saw bookings decline by 30 per cent in September compared to the same period in 2007, according to Milan daily Corriere della Sera. (dpa)