A Ryanair flight en route from Bologna, Italy, to Dublin, Ireland, was forced to abort its landing on Thursday, September 10, 2026, after its wing tip struck the runway. The incident occurred at approximately 10:45 a.m. local time when the Boeing 737, operating as flight FR9457, touched down with a tilt to its right side, causing the wing tip to make contact with the tarmac.
Dramatic footage captured the moment passengers aboard the aircraft screamed as the plane jolted and tipped. The pilots responded by immediately aborting the landing and executing a go-around, taking the aircraft back into the air. The flight successfully landed approximately 15 minutes later, and all passengers disembarked normally.
A spokesperson for Ryanair confirmed the incident, stating it was a "minor wing tip impact." The airline's engineers repaired the damaged wing tip, and the aircraft returned to service the following morning, September 11.
The incident occurred amidst ongoing disruption to UK air travel, attributed to technical issues with the National Air Traffic Services (NATS). Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair, had previously criticized Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of NATS, calling for his resignation due to the widespread flight cancellations. On Thursday, dozens of flights to and from Britain were affected, with Heathrow Airport reporting 28 cancellations. O'Leary accused Rolfe of misrepresenting the cause of the outages, alleging NATS had cited a "rogue flight plan" as the reason, a problem that also caused significant disruptions in 2023.