SIA plane departs after 8-hour delay on Auckland Airport tarmac

Hundreds of passengers have finally been able to depart Auckland Airport for Singapore - 8 hours after a problem with the nose wheel of a plane forced it to abort take-off. Witnesses saw smoke and smelt "burning rubber" coming from the SIA A380, which was bound for Singapore from Auckland before the flight was aborted. The SQ286 flight was due to take off at 1:30pm, but was delayed while an investigation was carried out. It finally took off at 9:26pm after several changes to the departure time, Auckland Airport said. A SIA spokesman said it was decided to keep passengers on board so the plane could leave as soon as repairs and inspections were completed. But there was an "unforeseen delay" during the inspections which meant it took longer than anticipated to depart. <br/>