Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest active volcano, erupted on Monday, September 14, triggering widespread flight cancellations at Catania Airport in Sicily, Italy. The volcano, located on Sicily’s east coast between the cities of Messina and Catania, produced a 4-kilometer-high eruption cloud, forcing authorities to suspend operations at the airport for safety reasons.
The eruption followed reports of continuous ash emissions from the volcano’s Northeast Crater the previous week. In response, the INGV Etneo Observatory issued a red flight alert (VONA, Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation), requiring aircraft bound for Catania Airport to be redirected.
The flight suspension, initially set to expire at 4pm Monday, was extended into Tuesday morning, September 15. Shortly before 6am local time on Tuesday, plumes of black smoke were observed rising from the mountain again, prompting airport officials to extend the suspension to 10am. According to the airport’s social media statement, passengers were advised to check flight status with their airlines before traveling to the airport.
Approximately 150 flights were cancelled due to the volcanic activity. Catania Airport is Italy’s fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic, handling around 40,000 passengers daily, making the disruption significant for regional travel.
This closure comes one week after a five-day shutdown of the same airport in August during the peak Ferragosto holiday period. That emergency closure, the longest since 2002 according to airport operator SAC, resulted in 36 percent of scheduled arrivals between August 6 and 12 being cancelled, with more than 600 flights diverted to alternative destinations including Palermo and Trapani.
According to Italy’s Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Mount Etna is currently experiencing variable-rate degassing and is known for frequent emissions and ash activity. The institute warned that a “rapid evolution of the ongoing phenomena towards more energetic activity with the formation of eruption columns, ash clouds, and collapse of portions of the summit cones with the formation of pyroclastic flows cannot be ruled out.”
Key facts
- Mount Etna erupted on September 14, producing a 4km-high ash cloud
- Catania Airport suspended flights for safety reasons; approximately 150 flights were cancelled
- Catania Airport handles around 40,000 passengers daily and is Italy’s fifth-busiest airport
- The airport experienced a five-day closure in August, the longest since 2002
- Mount Etna is Europe’s tallest active volcano and known for frequent emissions