Around 400 departing flights have been scrapped, with a further 52 due to be cancelled today, according to the SAC website. More than 250 flights have also been diverted to other airports, including over 100 to Comiso since the disruption began, around 50 to Palermo yesterday alone and another 22 to Trapani. However continued volcanic activity in the area has led to further flight cancellations, causing disruption for thousands.
SAC, the Catania airport management company, said that the decision to cancel flights on Wednesday and Thursday had been made “due to Mount Etna’s eruptive activity and the associated release of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, the closure of the areas corresponding to the southwest air cloud (sector C1) and the closure of sector B3 have been extended.”
As a result, “all flight operations departing from and arriving at Catania airport are suspended until 4:00 PM tomorrow,” they confirmed.
The eruption of Sicil’s Mount Etna volcano has extended into its sixth consecutive day, as it continues to disrupt air traffic in the island at the height of the summer season.
Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policies, Nello Musumeci said: “What has been happening in recent days at the airports of Catania and Comiso, with cancellations, delays and serious disruption for thousands of citizens and tourists at the height of the summer season, brings back to the fore a problem that Sicily has known about for a long time.
Mr Musumeci blasted a failure of authorities to implement plans to protect the airport from the impact of eruptions at the volatile volcano.
He continued: “As far back as 1999, as president of the Province of Catania, I had pointed out the limitations of the Fontanarossa airport and its particular vulnerability linked to its proximity to Etna.
“We did not stop at raising the issue: we included in the provincial spatial plan a proposal to relocate the airport. We also commissioned a preliminary study for a new airport on the plain between Catania and Enna, designed to serve seven of the island’s nine provinces.”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
