Sicily's busiest airport has shut again. On Saturday 26 September, ash from Mount Etna's North-East Crater forced Catania-Fontanarossa Airport to stop all flights, first until the afternoon and then until noon on Sunday 27 September.

A violent overnight thunderstorm had already slowed arrivals. Then Italy's volcano observatory raised its aviation alert to red, the highest level, as an eruption column rose about 4 km above the crater. For thousands of passengers at the end of the summer season, that meant diversions to the other side of the island, or no flight at all.

From Slowdown to Shutdown

According to Italian news agency ANSA, the day began with restrictions rather than a closure. After the storm, Catania was limited to four landings an hour instead of the usual twelve, and ten flights were diverted: five to Palermo, three to Trapani and two to Comiso. One Volotea flight to Verona was moved to depart from Comiso instead.

Then the ash arrived. The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) reported ash emission from the North-East Crater and a 4 km eruption column, and issued a red VONA, the Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation. Airport operator SAC closed the airspace sector over the airport and ordered zero arrivals and zero departures, initially until 16:00. The suspension was later extended to Sunday midday.

SAC advised passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport.

A Summer of Closures

This is not a one-off. Reuters describes Etna's ash emissions as particularly intense this summer. Catania suspended flights in August, when euronews reported the ash cloud drifting as far as Libya, and again on 14 September. For airlines and tour operators serving eastern Sicily, Etna has become a recurring operational risk, not an exception.

euronews on the August 2026 eruption, when Catania closed and the ash cloud reached as far as Libya.

Why Airports Close for Ash

Volcanic ash is not smoke. It is made of tiny particles of rock and glass that melt inside a jet engine's hot section and solidify again on the turbine parts, choking the engine. Ash also sandblasts windscreens, contaminates air data probes and settles on runways. That is why aviation treats even a moderate ash cloud with such caution.

Aviation learned this the hard way. In 1982 a British Airways 747 lost all four engines after flying into ash from Galunggung in Indonesia, a story told in La nuit où un 747 a perdu ses quatre moteurs. In 1989 a KLM 747 did the same over Alaska. Both crews restarted engines and landed safely, and today's VONA alerts and closures are a direct result of those near misses.

For Catania, the forecast depends on the wind as much as the volcano. If the plume keeps drifting south over the airport, Sunday's reopening could slip again.

Sources: ANSA, Reuters via Al Arabiya, aeroTELEGRAPH, Open, ilSicilia, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, euronews