Catania: seventh day of aerial chaos due to the Etna eruption and ash

It is the seventh day with our eyes fixed on the sky and on the panels that report departures and arrivals. Seven days of canceled flights, delays, detours to other airports in Sicily and waits that have turned Fontanarossa airport into the summer purgatory for thousands of travelers.

Etna continues to erupt and the Catania airport, closed today at least until 6:00 p.m., continues to pay the price of the ash, operating intermittently. And it is not possible to predict when the problems will end.

SAC, the company that manages the Catania and Comiso airports, says in a statement that it is "prepared to restore all airport activities as soon as the competent authorities authorize the reopening of the airspace."

"All airport infrastructure is maintained in fully operational conditions, so that the airport can progressively resume its activities as soon as it is possible to operate in safe conditions," says the company, which warns that "the evolution of the ash cloud makes changes to the schedule necessary, even several times throughout the same day."

SAC reminds that "it is exclusively up to each airline to decide the management of flights, with possible cancellations, delays, diversions or rescheduling, as well as to provide assistance and relocation services to passengers."

"We maintain - SAC concludes - active coordination with the managers of the Palermo and Trapani airports and with the other transport networks and infrastructures in the area to facilitate the organization of alternative connections."

According to first estimates, 190 flights have been diverted in Palermo alone since the 'muntagna' activity resumed, as the inhabitants of Catania call the volcano with a mixture of fear and respect. Some 30,000 passengers would have suffered the consequences.

On social media, angry travelers post photos of endless queues at airline counters and say they have been forced to organize themselves to get to new airports at short notice.

Palermo, Trapani and, until last night, Comiso have been the "escape routes". The ash, in fact, had also forced this last airport to close, which later reopened late in the morning.

But from Catania, getting to Palermo and Trapani is not easy: full buses, rental cars that are impossible to find, few shuttles and very expensive taxis. The emergency reveals a weak point: that of the island's airport system. If the main airport, the fifth in the country, has problems, the consequences are disastrous. For those who traveled, but not only for them.

Hotels, agencies and tour operators fear cancellations, cancellations of trips and significant damage to the image of the island. Fiavet Sicilia demands the creation of a permanent table to manage airport emergencies, while the president of the region, Renato Schifani, announces the allocation of new resources.

'The muntagna' cannot be controlled, but the connections can, maintain the municipal councilors of MPA, Forza Italia and Liga, who point to SAC, the company that manages the airport.