Aviation authorities raise alert level to red, forcing Catania-bound flights bound to be diverted, mainly to Palermo.Catania's Fontanarossa airport suspended all incoming flights on Monday 14 September after Mount Etna erupted, sending an ash cloud roughly four kilometres into the sky.Airport operator SAC announced the closure of flight sector C1, with arrivals suspended until at least 16.00 local time, after Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) raised the aviation alert level from orange to red in response to the ongoing ash emission. According to INGV's bulletin, the volcano is experiencing variable degassing from its summit craters, near-continuous ash emissions from the Northeast Crater, weak strombolian activity, and sporadic ash emissions from the Bocca Nuova crater. Flights due to land in Catania have been diverted to other airports in the region, chiefly Palermo's Falcone-Borsellino airport. SAC urged passengers travelling to or from Catania to check their flight status with their airline before heading to the airport, warning that further updates would follow. Catania is Italy's fifth-busiest airport, handling more than 12.3 million passengers a year, and its proximity to Etna has repeatedly caused disruption. This is the second time this year that eruptive activity has forced a suspension of flights at the airport: an eruption in August caused significant disruption for tens of thousands of passengers after the airport was forced to close. Last month Italy's civil protection minister, Nello Musumeci, reignited debate over the location of the airport, claiming that it is "in the wrong place".

Catania's Fontanarossa airport on Monday 14 September after Mount Etna erupted, sending an ash cloud roughly four kilometres into the sky. Airport operator SAC announced the closure of flight sector C1, with arrivals suspended until at least 16.00 local time, after Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) raised the aviation alert level from orange to red in response to the ongoing ash emission. According to INGV's bulletin, the volcano is experiencing variable degassing from its summit craters, near-continuous ash emissions from the Northeast Crater, weak strombolian activity, and sporadic ash emissions from the Bocca Nuova crater. Flights due to land in Catania have been diverted to other airports in the region, chiefly Palermo's Falcone-Borsellino airport. SAC urged passengers travelling to or from Catania to check their flight status with their airline before heading to the airport, warning that further updates would follow. Catania is Italy's fifth-busiest airport, handling more than 12.3 million passengers a year, and its proximity to Etna has repeatedly caused disruption. This is the second time this year that eruptive activity has forced a suspension of flights at the airport: an eruption in August caused significant disruption for tens of thousands of passengers after the airport was forced to close. Last month Italy's civil protection minister, Nello Musumeci, reignited debate over the location of the airport, claiming that .