Catania airport resumed arrivals and departures on Saturday after a week of ash-driven closures, and Italy lowered the Etna alert from red to orange. Bloomberg says the eruption continues and major restrictions stay in force.
Mount Etna is the volcano in eastern Sicily whose ash clouds drift over nearby Catania, home to the island's busiest airport. When the volcano is active, the ash forces flight suspensions there, cutting Sicily's main air link and stranding travellers. The current disruption dates from August 2026.
Italy lowered the alert level for volcanic activity at Mount Etna from red to orange, and Catania airport again handled arrivals and departures on Saturday, FAZ reported. Major restrictions remain in place and the eruption continues, according to Bloomberg.
Ash from Mount Etna has largely paralysed Catania airport, the busiest in Sicily, for about a week, and the airport has repeatedly been closed completely. Le Monde reports more than 1,000 cancelled flights and tens of thousands of stranded travellers, while Al Jazeera says flights are suspended until at least Saturday afternoon.
Europe's most active volcano is throwing out unusually large amounts of ash, and over the past week hundreds of flights have been cancelled and the plans of tens of thousands of travellers disrupted. Mountain guides are still taking visitors close to the lava.