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Ryanair engine debris shattered window, NTSB report finds
By Aurax Desk | August 14, 2026 | 2 min read
A fan blade broke apart inside a Ryanair-operated Boeing 737 shortly after takeoff from Greece last month, sending engine debris into the fuselage and shattering a passenger window, according to a preliminary U.S. investigation. A passenger seated beside the window was partially pulled through the opening before fellow travelers brought him back inside as the aircraft lost cabin pressure and returned safely to Thessaloniki.
Ryanair - operated Boeing 737 Broken passenger window and caused cabin depressurization.
The incident occurred July 10 on Malta Air Flight 1879, operating under the Ryanair brand from Thessaloniki to Memmingen, Germany, with 149 passengers and six crew members aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board said a fan blade in the aircraft's right The incident occurred July 10 on Malta Air Flight 1879, operating under the Ryanair brand from Thessaloniki to Memmingen, Germany, with 149 passengers and six crew members aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board said a fan blade in the aircraft's right engine fractured, releasing fragments that damaged the fuselage and broke a window in Row 11. The passenger, identified as 61-year-old Ljubisa Karovic, suffered neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns. Oxygen masks deployed after the cabin depressurized, while the crew reduced the aircraft's altitude and ultimately returned to Thessaloniki about an hour after departure.
Investigators found feathers and bird remains inside the damaged engine, while maintenance records showed four suspected bird strikes involving the same engine during the previous year, with remains recovered after two of those incidents. The NTSB has not determined that a bird strike caused the fan blade failure and said the investigation remains ongoing; ultrasonic inspections of the fan blades in November 2025 and May 2026 had not identified damage. The case has drawn comparisons with previous engine failures in which debris breached aircraft fuselages, including the 2018 Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 incident that killed a passenger, although investigators have not concluded that the Ryanair event resulted from the same failure mechanism.
Sources: National Transportation Safety Board, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera.