CATANIA: Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Saturday because of ash from Mount Etna’s ongoing volcanic activity, which has forced hundreds of flights to be canceled or rerouted over the past week.
All arrivals at the island hub, Italy’s fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic, will be suspended through 2 a.m. (0000 GMT) on August 15, airport operator SAC said in a statement late on Thursday.
Passengers were advised to check the status of their flights with their airlines before traveling to the airport. The prolonged restrictions come at the height of the summer holiday season, affecting thousands of passengers, and have placed additional pressure on Sicily’s other airports.
Mount Etna, Europe’s highest and most active volcano, frequently disrupts operations at Catania airport, whose operator launched the sale of a stake of at least 51 percent in May. Volcanic ash is considered one of the most serious hazards to aviation because it can damage aircraft systems and cause jet engines to fail.
In 1982 a British Airways Boeing 747 temporarily lost power in all four engines after flying through an ash cloud from Indonesia’s Mount Galunggung before the crew safely restarted them.
