A Singapore Airlines (SIA) plane was delayed after it met with a rather feathery and bloody welcome when it landed in Paris on Thursday morning.

An SIA spokesman said that Flight SQ336, an Airbus A-380 carrying 311 passengers, struck a number of birds when it arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Photos of the incident posted to Facebook show the wings and nose of the plane smeared with several patches of what appears to be blood. Other images show the carcasses of dead birds wedged into the plane's landing mechanism.

While the post accompanying the photos suggested the incident occurred on Saturday morning, SIA clarified that it happened on Thursday.

"Following inspections on the ground and cleaning, the aircraft was declared serviceable and it operated the return Flight SQ335 to Singapore," said the spokesman, adding that there was a 45-minute delay.