Volcanic ash forces overnight closure of Catania airport

Volcanic ash spewing from Mount Etna forced the Italian authorities to close Catania airport throughout the night on Christmas Eve.

The airport had been working in hiccups throughout the day on Monday, after Etna erupted.

A second tremor measuring 4.3 on the Richter Scale was felt in the Catania region yesterday afternoon, after a tremor of similar magnitude hit in the morning.

At 9.30pm on Monday, the authorities decided to close the airport for all incoming and outgoing flights because volcanic ash continued being spewed unabated in the atmosphere.

Flights scheduled to take off from Catania airport this morning have been cancelled.

People travelling to and from Catania by air have been advised to consult the airport website and its Facebook and Twitter accounts for further flight information throughout Christmas Day.

Terminal C at the airport has been closed after EasyJet stopped operations as a result of the volcanic activity.

The Air Malta flight departing from Malta International Airport to Catania at 1.50pm, so far remains scheduled.

A chain of around 130 tremors have rocked the volcano since around 9am on Monday, Italy’s National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology said.

Etna is Europe’s highest and most active volcano and is known to regularly erupt. The last major eruption happened in 1992.