Etna’s Ash Cloud Grounds Arrivals at Catania Airport

Mount Etna has erupted again, sending smoke and ash into the sky and forcing Catania Airport in Sicily to suspend incoming flights.

In a statement on Saturday, the airport said the airspace above the ash cloud had been closed. All arriving flights were suspended until 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT), while departing aircraft already at the airport were operating normally.

The airport serves eastern Sicily, a popular tourist destination. A webcam from Italy’s National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology showed smoke billowing from the summit.

Etna, Europe’s tallest active volcano at 3,324 metres, has erupted frequently over the past half-million years. Tough restrictions and ash advisories have been in place since last July amid increasingly intense activity, prompting demonstrations by guides who lead tourists up the mountain. In January, guides protested for the first time at the volcano’s lava flow gate after authorities limited excursions, arguing the lava was moving slowly enough to be viewed safely. The institute later confirmed that while eruptions continue, the lava fronts are cooling and not advancing.