- The Austrian Airlines plane flew through a thunderstorm on Sunday.
- The plane was hit by hail, shattering the windshield and tearing off the nose.
- All 173 passengers and six crew members were unharmed and landed safely in Vienna.
The Austrian Airlines plane, which was flying from Spain to Austria, was heavily damaged after flying through a thunderstorm on Sunday.
“Yesterday's Airbus A320 aircraft on flight OS434 from Palma de Mallorca to Vienna sustained damage due to hail,” the airline said in a statement to CNN on Monday.
“The aircraft encountered a thunderstorm on approach to Vienna which the pilots said was not visible on weather radar,” Austrian Airlines said, adding that the pilots had issued a Mayday emergency call during the flight.
The airline said the plane sustained “hail damage” to two windows in front of the cockpit, the nose, and some panels, according to CNN. All 173 passengers and six crew members were uninjured and landed safely in Vienna.
Photos circulating on social media detailed the extent of the damage to the plane, with much of the nose torn off and the plane's forward cockpit window appearing to be shattered.
One passenger on the flight, Emery Oakley, told ABC News the plane encountered “hail and thunderstorm clouds” with “20 minutes to go before landing.”
“I could definitely feel the hail coming down on the plane. It was pretty loud and the shaking was pretty bad for about a minute,” Oakley said. “It wasn't until I got off the plane that I realized the nose was gone. The pilots did a really great job keeping the plane as smooth and safe as possible.”
In a statement to Fox Business, Austrian Airlines said its technical team was “tasked with assessing the specific damage to the aircraft.”
“The safety of our passengers and crew remains our top priority,” the airline added.
Representatives for Austrian Airlines did not immediately respond to a BI request for comment sent outside normal business hours.
The accident happened last month after several flights experienced severe turbulence.
On May 20, a Singapore Airlines plane en route from London to Singapore encountered turbulence while flying over southern Myanmar and plummeted 178 feet (about 56 meters) in four seconds.
A 73-year-old passenger died of a suspected heart attack and dozens of passengers were injured in the accident.
A Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin experienced similar issues just a few days later, on May 26, when the plane encountered turbulence while flying over Turkey, injuring six passengers and six crew members.
