A runway at Melbourne Airport reopened on Monday after tyres were replaced on an aircraft that had aborted a take-off the previous night.
The Etihad Airways Boeing 787 was stuck on one of the two main runways at Melbourne Airport after its tyres reportedly “burst” when departing at 6:15 pm AEDT (7:15 am GMT) on Sunday.
Flights were disrupted because only one runway was available for operations at a busy time for air travel due to summer holidays in Australia.
A Melbourne Airport spokesperson said Etihad Airways flight EY461 “rejected take off” when departing for Abu Dhabi and the Aviation Rescue and Firefighting Service deployed fire fighting foam as a precaution in response to a request from the aircraft.
“The Etihad aircraft has been safely towed from the runway at Melbourne Airport. Runway inspections have been completed and the runway has been reopened for operations this morning,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
All 289 passengers safely left the aircraft and were transported to the airport terminal.
“Etihad Airways has advised that it is re-booking passengers on future flights,” the spokesperson said.
A passenger on the flight was reported to have said the aircraft “had to slam on the emergency brakes while attempting take-off” after two tyres “burst”.
About 36.5 million passengers used Melbourne Airport in the 2023/24 financial year, excluding transits, and the airport had 244,000 aircraft “movements”.