Etna Eruption August 2026: Catania Airport Closed

Update, August 12, 2026. Catania airport’s closure has been extended again, now until 4:00pm on August 13. Around 700 flights have been cancelled since the eruption started on August 8, and the ash cloud has now also affected Comiso airport and Malta. For the latest status as it changes, check our Etna Live page, which we’re updating throughout the day.

If you’re flying to or from Catania this week, here’s the short version: Etna has been erupting continuously since August 7-8, 2026 — intense explosive activity at the Voragine crater, plus a new vent that opened near Monte Simone. This is a bigger, longer-running event than the brief closures Etna usually causes, and it has seriously disrupted air travel across eastern Sicily.

What’s actually closed right now

Catania-Fontanarossa airport has had both arrivals and departures suspended, on and off, since August 8. The closure has been extended multiple times as the eruption continues — most recently to 4:00pm on August 13 — and each extension has come with little warning, because it depends on which way the wind is blowing the ash cloud that day. Around 700 flights have been cancelled at Catania since this started, and the disruption has spread beyond Catania itself:

Comiso airport (Ragusa province), normally a fallback for diverted Catania flights, has also been affected by the ash.
Malta International Airport, just across the water, has seen flights affected by the same ash cloud.
The volcanic aviation alert (VONA) has been at Red, the maximum level, reflecting how active the eruption currently is.

This is meaningfully different from the shorter July 2026 closure we covered in our earlier Etna/Catania airport article — that one lasted about 48 hours. This one has now run for several days with no firm end date.

What to do right now

Check directly with your airline, not with us, the airport’s general reputation, or a forum thread — schedules are changing by the hour, and your airline is the only source that can confirm your specific flight.
Check the official Catania airport status at aeroporto.catania.it before heading to the airport.
If you’re flying into the region and Catania is uncertain, Palermo is the safest bet — it’s on the other side of the island and hasn’t been affected by this eruption’s ash.
If your flight is cancelled or pushed to tomorrow, you may need a place to stay near the airport for the night — same-day availability is moving fast this week given how many travelers are affected.

Why this eruption is bigger than usual

Etna erupts often — see our explainer on how frequently Etna actually erupts — but most episodes are short paroxysms that clear up within a day or two. This one has kept going because the activity itself hasn’t let up: continuous explosive activity at the Voragine crater, plus a genuinely new vent near Monte Simone that opened partway through, which is not something that happens with every eruption. That combination is why the closure keeps getting extended in short increments (a day at a time) rather than being lifted once and for all — INGV and the airport are reassessing conditions daily rather than committing to a longer timeline neither can guarantee.

Watch it live

Our Etna Live page tracks the INGV webcam feed plus the current airport status, and we’re updating it as the situation develops — that’s the fastest way to check before you travel, faster than chasing rumors in forums or outdated news articles (including, eventually, this one).

Planning ahead

If you have a Sicily trip coming up and Etna’s activity has you wondering whether to worry: it’s genuinely not a reason to cancel a trip, but it is a reason to build in a little flexibility. Travel insurance with flight-disruption coverage is worth having for any Sicily trip timed near an active eruption (more in our trip cost guide), and it’s worth knowing that Palermo is your safest arrival/departure point if Catania’s status is still uncertain when you fly.

See Etna and the surrounding area on our interactive Sicily map.

This page is kept updated to the best of our knowledge, but it doesn’t replace official sources (your airline, the airport, INGV) for travel decisions.