Catania airport’s management said on Tuesday afternoon that air traffic would gradually resume “due to the decrease in volcanic activity” from nearby Mount Etna.

Departures were set to resume from 6pm, while four arrivals per hour would be allowed from 8pm, it said.

All flights would resume from 10pm, it added.

⚠ Data la diminuzione delle attività vulcaniche le operazioni di volo riprenderanno secondo il seguente schema:
▪dalle ore 18 saranno ripristinate le partenze;
⁠▪dalle ore 20 locali saranno consentiti 4 arrivi all'ora;
▪dalle ore 22 saranno ripristinate tutte le operazioni pic.twitter.com/hoSV3hAsGM

— Aeroporto di Catania (@CTAairport) July 23, 2024

All inbound and outbound flights had been suspended on Tuesday morning due to Mount Etna’s “eruptive activity and ash emission”, with the airport advising passengers to “contact their airline for information regarding their flights”.

A total of 18 flights headed to Catania’s airport had been diverted to either Palermo’s Falcone-Borsellino airport or Trapani’s Vincenzo Florio airport as of Tuesday afternoon, according to local media reports.

Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, spewed lava and an eight-kilometre-high column of ash early on Tuesday in the latest in a series of recent eruptions. 

A similar eruption from the volcano forced the temporary closure of Catania’s airport on Friday, July 5th, with thousands of passengers affected by delays and cancellations.

Intense volcanic activity continued throughout the weekend as thick layers of ash slowed down road traffic on Catania’s busy streets.

The 3,324-metre-high (10,905 feet) volcano has erupted multiple times in recent decades, with major eruptions taking place roughly twice every ten years since the 1970s.

In recent weeks, its crater has belched fountains of lava and ash plumes on multiple occasions, raising questions over the risks of travelling to Sicily this summer.

Another Sicilian volcano, Stromboli, has also been active in recent weeks.

Stromboli last erupted on Thursday, July 11th, with authorities asking tourists to temporarily leave local beaches and distributing face masks to protect from ash.  

Italy is one of Europe’s most volcanically active areas due to the Italian peninsula spanning two tectonic plates, the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate, which meet between Sicily and the mainland.

The country has three main hotspots: a chain of volcanoes in and around the Gulf of Naples in Campania; another cluster in north-eastern Sicily; and a third near Pantelleria, a small island located some 106 kilometres south-west of Sicily.