Ente Nazionale Aviazione Civile

ENAC (Ente Nazionale Aviazione Civile), also known as the Italian Agency for Civil Aviation, is the national authority responsible for the regulation and oversight of civil aviation in Italy. Its core functions include issuing licenses and certifications for airlines, pilots, aircraft maintenance organisations, and air navigation service providers. It supervises the operation and safety of airports, ensuring they meet national and international standards. ENAC also manages the allocation of airport slots and monitors compliance with environmental and noise regulations. The agency’s services are directed toward the entire Italian civil aviation sector, encompassing commercial airlines, general aviation, aerodrome operators, and related service providers.

As a regulatory body, ENAC operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, giving it a distinct governmental mandate to enforce safety and operational standards aligned with ICAO and EU aviation regulations. The agency’s distinguishing attribute is its role as the sole entity empowered to conduct safety inspections, audit aviation organisations, and impose administrative sanctions when necessary. ENAC’s competencies extend to the certification of new aircraft types, approval of flight training organisations, and oversight of air navigation services provided by entities such as ENAV. ENAC collects and publishes aggregated passenger traffic statistics for Italian airports, which it uses for planning and policy development. The cyberattack reported on 10 July 2020 highlighted the agency’s reliance on internal systems for handling this data, while confirming that no personal traveler data were stored and that backup systems prevented data loss. This incident demonstrated ENAC’s incident response procedures and its obligation to notify national legal and cybersecurity authorities following a breach.

Structurally, ENAC is a public economic entity (ente pubblico economico) owned by the Italian state, with no private shareholders or parent company. It reports directly to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, which sets its strategic objectives and provides oversight. The agency’s headquarters are located in Italy, specifically in Rome, from where it coordinates its national regulatory activities. ENAC does not have subsidiaries in the commercial sense, but it works closely with other national bodies such as ENAV (air navigation service provider) and the National Airport System. Its institutional status ensures that its actions are guided by public interest objectives rather than profit motives.