(FILES) This general view shows an eruption of the Mount Etna volcano in Sicily on July 5, 2024. The airport at Catania in Sicily, a top Italian tourist destination has on July 23, 2024, suspended all flights as ash from an eruption at nearby Mount Etna entered the airspace. (Photo by Giuseppe Distefano / Etna Walk / AFP)
Rome: The airport at Catania in Sicily, a top Italian tourist destination, reopened late Tuesday afternoon after suspending all flights when an eruption at nearby Mount Etna spewed volcanic ash.
Millions of passengers pass every year through Catania International Airport, which serves the eastern part of Sicily with tourist sites such as Syracuse and Taormina.
"Due to the decrease in volcanic activity, flight operations will resume," the airport operator wrote on X.
Departures resumed from 6pm (1600gmt), while four arrivals per hour would be allowed from 8pm (1800gmt), it said.
All flights would resume from 10pm (2000gmt), it added.
The airport had suspended all flights earlier Tuesday "due to eruptions and ash emissions".
That message was posted with a warning image of Mount Etna with the text "high intensity" and "volcanic activity in progress" overlayed.
The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the ash column had reached an altitude of eight kilometres (five miles).
At 3,324 metres (nearly 11,000 feet), Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and has erupted frequently in the past 500,000 years.
Catania airport was last closed on July 5 due to an eruption.
