Delta plane clips another aircraft and appears to knock its tail off at Atlanta airport

No injuries were reported, and maintenance crews are evaluating for damage, Delta Air Lines said.

The Delta flight was headed to Tokyo and the Endeavor Air flight to Lafayette, Louisiana. Delta said it accommodated passengers on another flight that left Tuesday afternoon.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

The collision comes weeks after a deadly incident at the same airport when a tire exploded at a Delta facility. Two employees were killed, and another was injured.

There have also been near-collisions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in recent months.

In April, a JetBlue plane getting ready for takeoff almost hit a Southwest Airlines flight that air traffic control had cleared to cross the runway. 

Moments before the collision, someone could be heard on radio traffic yelling for both planes to stop, according to the website LiveATC. A source familiar with the matter said at the time that the planes came within 1,000 feet of each other. 

The JetBlue plane had to abort takeoff, the airline said. 

A month later, there was another mishap at the airport when an American Airlines flight was cleared for takeoff while another plane had already been given instructions to land on a cross-runway.

An air traffic controller canceled the takeoff clearance for the American plane “because another aircraft was cleared to land on an intersecting runway,” according to the FAA, which launched an investigation.

Last year, the FAA addressed concerns at a safety summit to assess whether changes are needed in how U.S. flights are regulated. The agency said it has “a goal of zero serious close calls,” and it recently reported a 33% decrease in serious runway incursions in fiscal 2024 compared with 2023.