A swarm of bees delays a flight at a US airport for three hours

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — A swarm of bees landed on a Delta Airlines flight parked at a US airport on Wednesday, delaying a domestic flight from Houston, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia. Duration is approximately three hours.

After pictures of the incident circulated on social media, American Airlines joked: “Believe it or not, Delta Flight 1682 from Houston Bush to Atlanta was delayed yesterday, apparently because a swarm of bees wanted to talk to our unit, no doubt to share an update on the airport’s weather.”

Delta Airlines did not say exactly what steps it took to resolve the situation, but eventually, the bees were diverted as the plane was pushed off the runway using ground equipment without passengers.

The safety of the bees and ensuring that the plane’s surface was not contaminated were considered factors responsible for the flight delay.

The airline apologized to passengers whose flight was delayed.

Twitter user Anjali Ngdi reported on the incident from inside George Bush Intercontinental Airport, noting the various measures that were proposed and clearly rejected to keep bees off the wing of an Airbus A320.

Engetti talked about beekeepers and pest control in his live updates, apparently compiled from updates from Delta and word of mouth from fellow passengers. He also pointed to the competition to reserve a spot near the windows at the airport in hopes of watching the bee-handling process. However, Engetti said no beekeepers turned up, much to his disappointment.

Engetti did not respond to CNN’s attempts to contact him.

Bees in airports

While it’s rare for bees to swarm on airplanes, they have happened before. In 2019, a flight of Air India, India’s flagship airline, was delayed by a swarm of bees. In this case, a water cannon was used to evacuate the bees from a flight that was about to take off from Kolkata to Agartala.

A 2022 report published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine cites several airports in the United States and internationally as “spectacular insects.”

The FAA is involved in research related to airport bee programs.