The Etihad flight EY461 was heading to Abu Dhabi from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport at around 18:15 on Sunday evening when a “technical reason” led to the takeoff being aborted at the last second.

Emergency services were called to the scene as a “safety precaution” with a Melbourne Airport spokesperson confirming that the flight had “rejected takeoff”. 

“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 damage to the aircraft’s tyres, the aircraft could not be towed off the runway. All passengers safely disembarked the aircraft and were bussed to the terminal.

The incident meant that only one runway was available for operations, causing mass delays during Melbourne’s highly-busy summer period.

The runway has reopened as of Monday morning, with an Airport spokesperson stating that runway inspections have been completed.

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