A330 carried 288 people; To date, there is no official confirmation of injuries
A Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-300 failed in one of its engines shortly after takeoff from São Paulo International Airport, in Guarulhos, on Sunday night (29 March 2026). The explosion of a turbine caused visible flames on the aircraft and a fire on the grass next to the runway. Despite the scare, the plane returned and landed safely about 10 minutes later.
Flight DL104 took off at 11:49 pm for Atlanta, in the United States, when, during the initial climb, the left engine malfunctioned. Reports from residents indicate that there was a sequence of explosions, accompanied by flames. The information is from and .
According to the Aerocommunication records between the control tower and the crew indicate that the problem was identified immediately after takeoff. The controller reported: “Delta, you have fire in your wings”. The pilot replied: “We know, we will need to go back”. The aircraft reached approximately 4,500 feet before beginning its return.
Images from cameras monitoring the airport show debris falling onto the lawn and the start of a fire outside the runway. Teams from the local Fire Department were called and worked both to fight the flames and to support the aircraft during landing.
According to data from , the plane took off, but had to return and land again in Guarulhos. The platform where at least 4 international flights were on hold for landing, while an aircraft coming from Bogotá was diverted to Galeão Airport, in Rio de Janeiro.
The landing was carried out on runway 10L. The 10R was unavailable due to construction work that began the same night. Until around 00:30 this Monday (30th March), operations at the airport remained suspended, and the A330 remained on the runway.
The aircraft was carrying 288 people. There is, so far, no official confirmation about injuries. A collision with birds is suspected, a hypothesis raised following previous reports from another pilot, but the cause has not yet been confirmed.
O Poder360 sent emails to Guarulhos Airport and Delta Air Lines asking for clarification on the incident, including the cause of the failure, possible reports of injuries and the measures adopted for passengers, such as accommodation and flight rescheduling. There was no response until the publication of this text. The space remains open.
