Catania airport has halted all flight operations again, with volcanic ash from Mount Etna keeping Sicily's busiest airport shut until late Monday — the third consecutive day of disruption, according to operator SAC. Anyone flying in or out should check directly with their airline before heading to the terminal, as further schedule changes are expected.
This is far from a one-off. Etna, Europe's highest and most active volcano, sits close enough to Catania that ash plumes regularly force the airport to close. This summer has been particularly rough. An August closure coinciding with Ferragosto — the peak of Italy's holiday season — lasted five days, the longest emergency shutdown since 2002. During one August week, SAC reported that 36% of nearly 2,000 scheduled arrivals were cancelled and more than 600 flights were diverted to other airports including Palermo, Trapani, Comiso and Lamezia Terme.
The disruption is taken seriously for good reason. Researchers at the Etna Observatory warn that ash can be drawn into aircraft engines and cause them to stall, which is why authorities ground flights whenever emissions intensify. Reassuringly, though, the last fatalities linked to an eruption date back to 1987 — officials note that lightning has actually caused more deaths on Etna in recent decades than the volcano itself. That became grimly apparent in August, when a 29-year-old American tourist hiking in a closed-off zone was struck by lightning and later died despite a helicopter rescue.
For travellers, the takeaway is practical rather than alarming. Catania is Italy's fifth-busiest airport and the main gateway for eastern Sicily — Taormina, Syracuse, the Etna wine country — so an ash event can upend thousands of holidays at once. Book flights earlier in the day when possible, keep an eye on SAC's notices during your trip, and know your backup airports: Palermo in the north and Comiso in the southeast both stay open when Catania closes, though they can involve a few hours' drive. Travel insurance that covers volcanic disruption is worth having in high summer, when Etna's activity tends to spike. And if you plan to hike on the volcano itself, stick to marked, open trails — closures exist for a reason.
