On 3rd December, a Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-300 rejected takeoff at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport after reporting hot breaks.
The flight was DL-57 en route from Amsterdam to Salt Lake City International Airport.
Data from FlightAware shows it arrived at Salt Lake City at Gate A19 at 12:19 MST (25 minutes late).
Aircraft brakes must absorb a huge amount of energy and overheated brakes can result in loss of braking power or even brake failure.
According to The Aviation Herald, the Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-300 rejected take-off at very low speed as it found its brakes were overheating.
At the time, it had begun its take off roll from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol's runway 36L. It then vacated the runway via the first exit and stopped for around 40 minutes on the taxiway.
After that, it successfully took and departed from runway 36L and arrived in Salt Lake City in Utah, just 25 minutes late.
It's not uncommon for widebody aircraft to need to wait for their brakes to cool down before departure (it can take 1-2 hours for the brakes to cool down after landing).
Brakes can overheat for various reasons - including taxiing too fast over long distances (on large aircraft they typically reach their hottest point up to 15 minutes after landing).
They can overheat on long taxi and take-off runs and overheated brakes can result in a loss of braking power.
Hydraulic fluids can leak onto hot brakes and cause a fire (overheated brake fires can also be caused by their proximity to the hydraulic and electrical system).
Delta has a fleet of 73 A330s - including A330-200s, A330-300s, and A330-900s.
The average age of the A330-200 fleet is 19.7 years, and the average age of the A330-900 fleet is 2.8 years (Delta has 31 A330-900s in service and another 9 on order).
Rejected take-offs are common - although high-speed rejected take-offs are comparatively uncommon (and rejected take-offs after the V1 are rare).
A take-off roll can be rejected for many reasons, especially at low speeds (typically below 80 knots). The SKYbrary states that at low speeds, "the takeoff will normally be rejected for any significant malfunction or abnormal situation."
Reasons can include a range of malfunctions (including hot breaks). High-speed rejected takeoffs are performed only for more important issues (like engine failure or aircraft intrusion).
Aircraft only reject takeoff after V1 when there is reason to believe the aircraft will not fly (as there is a risk the aircraft will overshoot the runway once the takeoff is rejected).
Meanwhile, just a week ago, elsewhere in Europe, a Vueling flight rejected take-off following an engine malfunction.
In 2022, a Delta A321 rejected take-off after a bird strike caused an engine fire. In May 2024, a United flight rejected take off after a Southwest flight incursion into the flight path.