- SAC suspended arrivals and departures at Catania airport until nine fifty-nine p.m. GMT on Sunday, September 27.
- Mount Etna sent volcanic ash over eastern Sicily, prompting repeated airport restrictions.
- A red aviation notice, the highest level on a four-point scale, was issued as disruptions continued.
SAC kept flights at Catania airport suspended until 21:59 GMT on Sunday, September 27, after Mount Etna sent volcanic ash into the atmosphere. The closure covered arrivals and departures at Fontanarossa, the Sicilian hub operated by SAC.
Passengers were told to check with their airlines before traveling to the terminal. The instruction applied to travelers booked on either inbound or outbound flights.
The shutdown followed a series of notices that set different end times over the weekend. An initial restriction applied to arrivals before the operator extended the halt.
The latest notice gave the suspension’s endpoint as 21:59 GMT. The airport’s updates tracked a disruption that had returned repeatedly in recent days.
Successive notices moved the airport’s reopening deadline
On Saturday, September 26, the airport suspended arrivals until 10:00 GMT on Sunday. The restriction was later extended, and a subsequent notice set an end time of 12:00 p.m. local time on Sunday, September 27.
That notice cited “volcanic activity and weather conditions.” A later update listed 21:59 GMT as the end of the suspension, covering all flight operations rather than arrivals alone.
The notices therefore recorded successive deadlines, not one unchanged reopening time. The Saturday measure focused on inbound traffic; the later suspension included departures as well.
Etna’s plume crossed eastern Sicily as aviation alerts reached red
Etna’s ash plume drifted over eastern Sicily, disrupting air traffic at the airport multiple times in recent days. Local reports described a cloud rising to around four kilometers, with ash coming from the volcano’s northeast crater.
A red Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation was issued. Red is the highest alert level on the four-point scale.
The airport is Italy’s fifth-busiest by passenger traffic. Its closure halted operations at a major Sicilian hub as the ash cloud moved across the region.
SAC said it would issue further information. The operator’s notice said:
“Updates will follow.”
