A Delta Air Lines Airbus A330 returned to Barcelona-El Prat Airport on Saturday 12 July after a hail strike damaged the aircraft's radome, the nose cone that protects the weather radar, according to aviation incident reports. The flight had departed from El Prat bound for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, not Seattle.
The aircraft landed back in Barcelona as emergency services stood by. For passengers at El Prat, the immediate consequence was a temporary adjustment to air traffic to allow the jet to make a safe approach, while the affected Delta service did not continue as scheduled.
Incident reports identify hail strike, not bird strike
Aviation tracking and incident sites The Aviation Herald and AeroInside both recorded the event as a hail strike involving a Delta A330-300 at Barcelona on 12 July 2025. AirLive reported that the damage was to the radome and said the aircraft returned to Barcelona while operating a service to JFK.
The aircraft returned to Barcelona after the radome was damaged by hail strike.
That account is consistent across the verified aviation sources supplied for this incident, including reports from Simple Flying and The Aviation Brief. Several other links in the source list relate to separate bird strike incidents involving other Delta flights and do not describe the Barcelona event.
What passengers at El Prat can check
Travellers due to fly from Barcelona-El Prat can check live arrivals and departures through AENA's Barcelona-El Prat airport page. Passengers booked on the affected Delta service would need rebooking or onward travel information from the airline after the aircraft returned to stand.
- Date of incident: Saturday 12 July 2025
- Airport: Barcelona-El Prat
- Airline and aircraft: Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-300
- Scheduled destination: New York JFK
- Reported damage: radome affected by hail
No injuries were reported in the verified material provided. The supplied sources state that the aircraft returned safely to Barcelona after the crew decided to discontinue the transatlantic flight.
Reported by Source Text Link, russpain.com, avherald.com, aeroinside.com, Vyte Klisauskaite, Melanie Kraft, TAB News Desk, Jessica Lee, today.com, Harro Ranter, sbtv.com.
