Etna alert: arrivals and departures at Catania Airport suspended until 10.00 pm

The figure is set to rise. Several airlines had already begun rescheduling late-afternoon flights even before the announcement of the closure until 10.00 pm. The extended closure therefore makes it likely that there will be a further increase in cancellations and diversions to other airports.

This latest emergency highlights Fontanarossa’s operational vulnerability during periods of heightened activity on Mount Etna. The volcano, shrouded in clouds, remains difficult to observe directly. However, the INGV has not, at present, reported any new signs of a resumption of effusive or eruptive activity, nor any fresh increase in volcanic tremor.

But the issue, at this stage, is no longer merely a matter of weather or volcanology. The repeated closures are forcing us to consider the overall resilience of the airport system in eastern Sicily.

“We have to deal with these issues; they are becoming increasingly acute and are high on the agenda,” said Carlo Mearelli, ENAC’s special commissioner, speaking in Naples about the difficulties faced by Catania airport over the summer. “What we are experiencing is exceptional. As far as Catania is concerned, it is clear that a structured contingency plan will be essential.”

Words that shift the issue to a structural level. In fact, every closure of Fontanarossa results in an immediate redistribution of traffic across the entire Sicilian airport network. Palermo, Trapani and Comiso become the compensatory airports, with knock-on effects on aircraft rotations, journey times, ground transfers and the airlines’ operations.

It is here that the story of Mount Etna intersects with the issue of infrastructure. Catania is the main airport in eastern Sicily and one of Italy’s busiest airports in terms of passenger traffic. Its operations affect not only transport links within the Etna metropolitan area, but also a significant proportion of the tourist and business traffic across the entire eastern part of the island.

The repeated disruptions over recent months are therefore turning the ash emergency into a systemic issue. It is no longer simply a matter of reopening the runways as quickly as possible, but of building a network capable of ensuring continuity of services when Fontanarossa is forced to shut down.

The ‘structured contingency plan’ referred to by ENAC thus becomes the real crux of the matter: identifying alternative airport capacity, rapid ground transport links, coordinated procedures and a traffic management system capable of coping with emergencies without turning every new ash emission into a crisis for the entire system.

In the meantime, passengers are advised to check the status of their flights directly with the airlines and via the airport display board. For the authorities, however, the latest closure of Fontanarossa Airport now raises a different question: not whether Mount Etna will once again disrupt air traffic, but how Sicily should organise itself when it happens again.