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Sicily’s largest airport in Catania reopened after an eruption of Mount Etna forced it to close.
The website of Catania Airport, Italy’s sixth by passenger traffic before the pandemic, is showing mostly regular flights with some minor delays and a few cancellations.
Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, erupted in the southeast crater at an altitude of about 2,700 metres, spewing smoke and ash, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said. The activity has since stopped, the institute said.
Ash plumes are dangerous to aircraft as their particles can damage jet engines. In 2010, the eruption of a volcano in Iceland created a huge plume of ash that forced many European countries to close their air space, leading to thousands of canceled flights.
Catania Airport, which is about 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Mount Etna, last faced disruption in July when it had to suspend flights due to a fire while heat waves and wildfires hit southern Europe this summer.