Flights slowly resume at Catania airport in Sicily due to volcanic eruption

Catania airport in Sicily began gradually reopening to flights on Friday after flights were temporarily suspended due to the eruption of Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe.

The airport said it resumed departures on Friday afternoon after the runway was cleared, writing on X that “the number of arrivals is temporarily limited to two per hour.”

The airport asked travellers to check the status of their flights before going to the airport.

Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said flights were suspended after ash plumes as high as 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles) were thrown into the sky from the nearby active volcano Etna on Thursday.

Footage was shared on social media on Friday showing streets in central Catania covered in thick layers of black ash, slowing down traffic.

The 3,324-metre (10,905-foot) volcano has erupted repeatedly in recent decades.

Over the past few days, fountains of hot lava and ash have begun spewing from the crater.

Italian authorities also issued a red alert over the eruption of another volcano north of Sicily – Stromboli on the island of the same name – which has generated clouds of ash.

Mount Stromboli, whose peak rises to a height of 920 metres and whose base is 2,000 metres below sea level, is one of the few almost permanently active volcanoes in the world, according to INGV.

Every year, millions of passengers pass through Catania Airport heading to eastern Sicily, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy.

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