Volcanic ash from Mount Etna brought air traffic to a halt over Sicily’s main gateway for tourists on Friday, forcing Catania’s airport to suspend arriving flights before reopening late this afternoon. “Following the downgrade of the volcanic activity alert level from Red to Orange, the resumption of flight operations has been authorised with immediate effect,” Catania airport said in a statement. Airport authorities had stopped incoming flights earlier in the day “due to Etna’s eruptive activity” and the “associated release of volcanic ash into the atmosphere”. From the summit, a plume of smoke was visible on a webcam published on the National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology’s website, which keeps watch on Mount Etna. Rising to 3,324 metres, Mount Etna is Europe’s tallest active volcano and has erupted frequently over the past 500,000 years.