SIA plane takeoff aborted in Seoul after Korean Air plane crosses runway unannounced

A Singapore Airlines plane bound for San Francisco aborted takeoff at Seoul airport last Thursday following instructions from air traffic control to avoid a Korean Air plane. “The aborted takeoff resulted in the deflation of a number of tyres on the Boeing 777-300ER, requiring passengers to disembark from the aircraft on the taxiway,” said an SIA spokesperson in response to queries from Channel NewsAsia. There were 186 passengers and 18 crew onboard the flight, and none of them were injured. The flight was cleared for takeoff at 6.07pm local time. It was accelerating for takeoff when Korean Air flight KE-929, bound for St Petersburg, suddenly crossed the runway. This prompted the instruction to abort takeoff. Affected passengers were provided with hotel accommodation, said the SIA spokesperson. Following replacement of the tyres, the aircraft departed for San Francisco at 1.05pm local time on Friday. The Korean Ministry of Transportation has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the incident.<br/>