Etna continues to erupt lava fountains and, while new vents open, Sicily is forced to deal with a situation that, by now, has very little exceptional.
View this post on Instagram
After the stop of flights at Catania airport, Comiso has also suspended activities due to volcanic ash, while the inconveniences are even affecting the Malta airport, which has announced cancellations and delays. In the middle of summer, however, the problem is not just the eruption with its consequences. It is the absence of a system capable of reacting and offering solutions. Tourism comes to a standstill, passengers are left stranded and those who are diverted to other airports find themselves facing real odysseys or shelling out staggering sums.
SAC, the company that manages both Sicilian airports, has announced the suspension of flight activities arriving and departing from the Catania airport until 6pm, while in Comiso – at least for the moment – the stop is expected until 10am.
The odyssey of tourists and abandoned holidaymakers
Those who are diverted to the airports of Palermo or Trapani, on the other side of the island, must face hundreds of kilometres, slow public connections and private transfers that can cost up to 700 euros. It is not only tourists who pay the consequences, but also the many foreigners who return to Sicily in the summer and find themselves stranded, forced to incur unexpected expenses or miss connections and days of work. This situation – which can no longer even be defined as an emergency – is bringing to light all the shameful backwardness of the transport sector of an island that could really live off tourism.
The joke is that in this period the Catania-Palermo railway is affected by works and interruptions, while construction sites and slowdowns remain on the motorway network. Reaching Catania from Trapani means crossing practically the entire island, with biblical times or losing 5 hours traveling if all goes well.
“We were supposed to leave for Campania by plane, but in the end we threw in the towel and bought a train from Catania, losing a lot of money” some friends tell me, with a bitter taste in their mouths, while there are those who have ventured to accompany relatives by car to Palermo airport, losing an entire day to cross the island.
The deleterious effects are also felt on those who work in the tourism sector and manage B&Bs and suddenly find themselves with an avalanche of bookings from large groups, including those coming from abroad, cancelled. While Etna puts on a show keeping everyone in suspense, on the island – which has remained practically isolated – chaos and despair reign. As if the volcano were something new, a newborn mushroom and not an active volcano, which we have to learn to live with and which has existed for millennia.
@greenMe
Sources: Catania Airport/Malta Airport
