Mount Etna Ash Shuts Catania Airport Until 2pm Saturday After 36% of 1,974 Flights Were Canceled
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · Aug 14
Mount Etna Ash Shuts Catania Airport Until 2pm Saturday After 36% of 1,974 Flights Were Canceled
3 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Aug 14
Summary
Flights at Sicily’s Vincenzo Bellini Airport will stay suspended until at least 2pm local time on Saturday, extending the worst ash disruption there in more than 20 years.
Mount Etna’s continuing eruption has already canceled more than a third of 1,974 flights from last Thursday through Wednesday and forced another 600 diversions, with ash drifting as far as North Africa.
Catania airport normally handles at least 40,000 passengers a day, and hundreds of travelers have been left waiting during the peak summer travel week; local media said about 300 were awaiting transfer on Thursday evening.
Trenitalia added six trains on the Palermo-Messina-Catania route to absorb stranded travelers, while airlines are generally not required to pay compensation because volcanic eruptions count as extraordinary circumstances.
The latest shutdown has renewed scrutiny of keeping a major airport just 30 km from Europe’s tallest and most active volcano.