Catania Airport suspended all arriving flights on Saturday morning after a volcanic eruption at Mount Etna pushed ash into the airspace above Sicily. The airport said arrivals would stay halted until 12:00 local time, while departures were still operating normally.
“Due to Etna’s eruptive activity and the associated release of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, the airspace corresponding to the cloud (Sector C1) has been closed. All arriving flights at Catania Airport are suspended until 12:00 local time.” That left passengers on Malta routes dealing with immediate changes: a 6.45 am KM Malta flight from Malta International Airport to Catania was cancelled, and a 7.50 am Ryanair flight from Malta to Catania was diverted to Palermo.
Catania Airport and Malta flights
“Departures of aircraft currently at the airport are operating normally. Passengers are kindly advised to check the status of their flight with their airline before heading to the airport. Further updates will follow.” For travelers already in Sicily and those heading there from Malta, that meant the airport kept part of its schedule moving even as arriving traffic was stopped by the ash cloud.
Several other flights were still scheduled to depart from Malta to Catania later on Saturday, so the operational picture on the route remained fluid for much of the morning. The disruption reached beyond a single cancellation because aircraft that could not land could also affect later departures.
Mount Etna in July
The timing followed another run of activity at Mount Etna. Etna erupted during the night between Thursday and Friday, volcanic activity intensified at the Voragine crater, and a lava fountain grew stronger before gradually reducing at about 4 am, according to La Sicilia.
Strong Strombolian activity was still continuing at the crater and produced a large grey cloud moving towards the south-southwest of Sicily. Catania airport had already suspended several arriving flights until 9 pm on Friday because of the volcanic activity, and volcanic activity on July 5 and 6 had also affected operations at the airport, with flights to and from Catania suspended during that period.
Sector C1 at Catania Airport
Etna is one of Europe’s most active volcanoes, and the airport’s latest closure of arriving traffic showed how quickly ash can narrow the options for airlines using Catania. Passengers on the Malta-Catania route had the clearest practical instruction: check their airline before travelling, because arrivals were halted at the airport even while departures continued.
The open issue for travelers was whether arriving flights at Catania Airport would resume immediately after 12:00 local time or later in the day, once the airspace over Sector C1 cleared enough for normal operations.
