Catania International Airport, a common transit point for travellers moving through southern Europe, has halted all arrivals and departures for a second time in weeks because of volcanic ash.
Volcanic ash from Mount Etna has forced Catania International Airport on the Italian island of Sicily to stop all flights, the airport said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.
Arrivals and departures were first halted on Monday. Airport officials said the suspension would run until 22:00 local time on Tuesday, which is 20:00 GMT, with further updates to follow.
Passengers booked to fly out of Catania were advised to contact their airlines before travelling to the airport.
Why the airport had to close
Mount Etna is Europe's tallest active volcano and erupts often. It stands 3,324 metres high, about 10,906 feet, and sits roughly 40km, or 25 miles, from the airport.
Volcanic ash is dangerous for aircraft because it can damage engines and block instruments, which is why aviation authorities ground flights when it drifts into flight paths.
On Monday, the INGV Etneo Observatory, the Italian body that monitors activity at Etna, issued a red aviation alert. That is the highest warning level used to tell airlines and air traffic controllers that ash is a serious hazard.
Second closure in weeks
This is the second time in recent months that Catania has been shut because of Etna. Last month, at the height of the European summer travel season, the airport was closed for almost a week.
Catania is Italy's fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic and handles around 12 million passengers a year. Repeated closures at an airport of that size cause knock-on delays across connecting routes.
The disruption has revived arguments in Italy over whether Catania should be closed permanently and other airports in Sicily expanded instead, given how close the facility is to the volcano.
The tourism side
Etna is also a major attraction. About 1.5 million people visit the volcano each year, and the August eruption pulled large crowds who came to see the lava flows even as flights were being cancelled.
What it means for Ghanaians travelling
There is no direct flight between Ghana and Catania, but Sicily is reached through hubs such as Rome and Milan, and travellers from Accra or from the United States often connect through those cities.
If you or a relative is booked on a leg into or out of Catania in the coming days, the practical advice from the airport still applies: confirm with the airline first rather than going to the terminal. Because the airport has said only that updates will follow, the reopening time could shift depending on how the volcano behaves.
Reported first by The Ghana Report on 2026-09-16. This article was written for our readers based on that report. Follow the link for the original coverage.
