Flight EY461 from Melbourne delayed following a rejected takeoff, Etihad Airways says

An Etihad plane travelling from Melbourne-Abu Dhabi with close to 300 passengers on-board had to abort its takeoff and slam on the emergency brakes in a frightening incident.

An Etihad plane bound for Abu Dhabi with close to 300 passengers on-board had to abort its takeoff at Melbourne Airport on Sunday night after two of its wheels exploded.

Etihad Airways flight EY461 had 289 passengers on board when it had to “slam on the emergency brakes” just moments before taking to the air at 6.15pm.

Footage from Melbourne Airport showed multiple fire trucks on the scene as the plane sat on the runway.

An Etihad Airways statement said the flight was aborted to maintain the safety of customers and crew.

“Our flight EY461 from Melbourne has been delayed, following a rejected takeoff,” the statement said.

“The flight crew decided to reject the takeoff for technical reasons and emergency services attended as a precaution.

“The safety and comfort of our guests and crew remains our highest priority.”

The Etihad plane had to abort its take off. Picture: Hugo Wood

There were no injuries reported following the incident, a Melbourne Airport spokesperson said.

The aborted flight meant other services were delayed as a result, they said.

“The Aviation Rescue and Firefighting Service responded to a request from the aircraft and deployed fire fighting foam as a precaution,” the spokesperson said.

Due to the damage to the aircraft’s tyres, crew were unable to tow it off the runway on Sunday night.

“Once we determined that repairs would be required before we could tow the aircraft, passengers disembarked the plane onto the runway via stairs and were then bussed to the terminal. All passengers had disembarked by just after 9pm,” the spokesperson said.

They said as of Monday morning, the aircraft had been safely towed from the runway.

“Runway inspections have been completed and the runway has been reopened for operations,” they said.

“While repairs were undertaken in preparation for the aircraft to be towed, we continued to use our east-west runway through the night and into this morning for all arrivals and departures.

“While there have been no cancellations at this stage, there were disruptions to some flights, and we apologise to passengers for any inconvenience.”

The wheels are said to have exploded after the landing gear burst into flames.

The incident happened at Melbourne Airport on Sunday night. Picture: Hugo Wood

A passenger on the flight said the plane brakes went on “quickly” and “hard”.

“We just basically did the normal check-in, got onto the plane, nothing untoward. And just as we were about to take off full speed ahead … the brakes went on quite quickly, quite hard,” passenger Vince told 3AW.

“Obviously some of the passengers surrounding were a bit scared and grabbing onto things, trying to make sure everyone was ok.

“The brakes went on a couple of times quite hard, and then (there was) some smoke from the right side of the plane.

“Obviously we didn’t know what was happening but a very good decision by the pilot it looks like.”

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Originally published as Flight EY461 from Melbourne delayed following a rejected takeoff, Etihad Airways says