Singapore flight cancelled after loud bang and air-con system fault

Singapore Airlines booked passengers into hotels around Auckland Airport. Photo / File

A pilot aborted a jetliner's takeoff after passengers heard a loud bang on a late night flight.

Flight SQ282 from Auckland to Singapore was cancelled on Friday night due to a technical problem.

A component of the plane's environmental control system, which among other things regulates air supply and pressure, malfunctioned just as the plane was about to take off.

"We heard a loud noise while the plane was trying to take off," one passenger told the Herald on Sunday. "I thought it was the tyre."

He said the plane was almost airborne when passengers heard the noise. "The pilot actually managed to stop the plane," he added.

"One of the [flight attendants] said she saw something happen on the engine," he said. But airline staff later told him the air conditioning ducting system had failed.

The passenger said the 777 jet was about three-quarters full.

Following the aborted take-off, he said passengers were told to keep calm and fire engines approached the plane as a precaution.

"We were actually sitting on the tarmac for 15, 20 minutes." He said passengers waited another hour before they were advised to collect their luggage.

Singapore Airlines booked passengers into hotels around Auckland Airport.

The company also arranged replacement flights for them.

"SQ282 which was departing Auckland and bound for Singapore on 29 August was grounded due to malfunctions of the bleed duct around the air con bay area," Singapore Airlines said in a statement.

An Airways Corporation spokeswoman said other flights went ahead as scheduled. "There was no delay due to [the] flight being aborted," she said. "The aircraft vacated the runway normally after abort."

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Mike Richards added: "We have no reports of any incident."