Etna ash suspends arrivals at Italy's Catania airport

ROME, Italy: Mount Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, belched smoke and ashes in a new eruption on Saturday, forcing the suspension of arrivals at a nearby airport on Sicily.

“Due to Etna’s eruptive activity and the associated release of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, the airspace corresponding to the cloud (Sector C1) has been closed,” Catania airport said in a statement.

“All arriving flights at Catania Airport are suspended until 12:00 local time (1000 GMT). Departures of aircraft currently at the airport are operating normally,” it said.

A plume of smoke could be seen billowing from the summit on a webcam on the website of the National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology, which monitors Etna.

At 3,324 metres (nearly 11,000 feet), Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and has erupted frequently in the past 500,000 years.

Around 12 million passengers transited in 2024 through Catania International Airport, which services the eastern part of Sicily, one of Italy’s most popular tourist destinations.