Emergency response as Air NZ plane aborts take-off

A full-scale emergency response was activated and a runway closed at one of Japan's biggest airports after a packed Air New Zealand flight aborted a take-off.

Flight NZ90 from Narita to Auckland had 296 passengers and 13 crew aboard when take-off was aborted on Sunday evening (Tokyo time) after the pilots discovered a potential problem with the auto thrust control. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman confirmed the incident and said an investigation was underway.

The Aviation Herald industry news website said smoke was seen coming from the aircraft's 12 tyres, which later burst. However Air New Zealand said the tyres did not burst but valves in the aircraft's wheels automatically activated to deflate the main tyres as a result of the heat from the brakes.

Civil Aviation spokesman Bill Sommer said Air New Zealand had informed the authority of the incident.

"It's been reported to us ... It'll be investigated over there [Japan] but Air New Zealand will do a full investigation as well and we'll look at the results of their investigation."

One comment posted on the Aviation Herald website said the plane had struggled to come to a stop.

"Thank goodness for a long, dry runway since the aircraft used nearly all of it to stop."

The Air New Zealand spokeswoman said that after the aborted take-off "the aircraft taxied to an adjacent taxiway where fire crews were called to cool the brakes".

The runway was closed for 30 minutes and passengers and crew were put up for the night in hotels. In another incident, passengers on an Air NZ flight from Sydney to Auckland on Tuesday were told to practice emergency positions when the plane's flaps - which allow landing or takeoff at slower speeds - developed a problem.

The Boeing 767-300 was about to land when the pilot told passengers to prepare for an emergency landing. This was cancelled after crew partly fixed the fault.

- © Fairfax NZ News