Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 22-Nov-2008 20:30 hrs
File photo of Qantas planes at Sydney Airport. A Qantas jumbo jet carrying 213 passengers aborted a flight shortly before takeoff from Sydney when an engineer spotted that one of its wings was damaged, the airline said.
A Qantas jumbo jet carrying 213 passengers aborted a flight shortly before takeoff from Sydney Saturday when an engineer spotted that one of its wings was damaged, the airline said.
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The New Zealand-bound Boeing 747-300 was taxiing towards the runway when damage to a right wing flap was noticed by an engineer on the ground and the pilot was alerted, Qantas said.
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"It was a technical issue with the wing prior to departure," an airline spokeswoman told AFP.
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All passengers on the plane had been provided with accommodation and booked on another flight on Sunday morning, she said, and the cause of the damage was being assessed.
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The incident is the latest in a series of problems suffered by Australia's troubled national airline in recent months.
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On Tuesday, two Qantas jumbos were damaged when they collided on the ground at a maintenance base.
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In October, a computer glitch caused a Qantas plane to plunge into a 200-metre mid-air nosedive, injuring more than 70 people, with some suffering broken bones.
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In July, a Qantas Boeing 747-400 made an emergency landing in Manila after a mid-air blast caused by an exploding oxygen bottle punched a hole in the fuselage during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne. — AFP
