Wildfires have disrupted flights across Europe with cancellations and delays. On Tuesday, Palermo Airport in Sicily was forced to close for hours as the island became the latest European destination to be hit by <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2023/07/19/where-are-wildfires-burning-in-europe/" target="_blank">wildfires</a>. Air traffic was temporarily halted at the airport in the Sicilian capital as firefighters tackled a fire close to its perimeter. Several flights in and out of the airport were cancelled and others were rerouted to Trapani Airport, about 111km to the west. When Palermo partially reopened for business at 11am local time only a limited number of flights were able to land. Catania's Vincenzo Bellini Airport, Italy's fifth largest airport, was closed last week because of a fire in a terminal. With flights to 91 destinations, thousands of passengers have been affected as only four flights have been permitted to land at Palermo each hour. The events in Sicily come as Greece battles fires, which have led to the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2023/07/24/rhodes-fire-evacuation-greece/" target="_blank">evacuation</a> of thousands of people, for an eighth day in Rhodes and Corfu. More evacuations have been ordered in southern <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2023/07/23/thousands-of-tourists-and-locals-flee-as-wildfires-rage-on-greek-island-of-rhodes/" target="_blank">Rhodes</a>, where 19,000 people, mostly tourists, have been rescued in buses and boats from the path of the fire that swept towards coastal areas from the mountains. It is the country's biggest evacuation effort in recent years. Jet2 and Tui have cancelled all flights to Rhodes as authorities warn the situation is expected to get worse with high winds forecast. “The situation in the southern part of Rhodes remains volatile and challenging,” Tui said in a statement on Sunday. “Due to this and considering the impact on local communities being affected, Tui has decided to cancel all flights and booked holidays to Rhodes for departures up to and including Tuesday, July 25.” Tui, one of the world's largest tour operators, has said it was cancelling trips to Rhodes through to Friday and is offering free cancellations or rebookings to other destinations. It said it had 39,000 customers on Rhodes as of Sunday evening. The Dutch Foreign Ministry has issued a travel warning for Rhodes, as well as the islands of Corfu and Evia. On Sardinia, three flights from Milan, Paris and Amsterdam had to be diverted to land elsewhere on the island because the tarmac at Olbia airport was deemed dangerously hot on Monday.
