A friend of mine is due to be flying to Rome tomorrow, to Fiumicino (FCO) airport. Last week there was a fire there though, badly affecting Terminal 3, so there are understandably some disruptions to flights at the airport right now.
Reading through the Europa.EU page on air passenger rights (which summarises Flight Delay Compensation Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, aka EU-261), I gather that as the fire counts as extraordinary circumstances, my friend won't be entitled to any compensation.
However, I had thought that my friend would be entitled (despite extraordinary circumstances) to be rebooked onto other similar flights that are still running, including with other airlines.
My friend's flight is with Vueling, who have this page on the matter. Vueling have suggested that my friend can have a full refund (not much help, flights today are much more expensive than when booked), take a 10pm flight instead of a 10am flight, or take a 8am flight via 6 hours in Barcelona.
Under EU regulations, should my friend be able to request that Vueling put them on a similar-timed departure with an airline who are still flying into Rome? Or are they stuck with Vueling-only rebookings, no matter how bad?