JEDDAH: An Iran Air passenger plane was forced to abort takeoff in Jeddah on Saturday after two tires burst and caught fire.
The Airbus 300 carrying 286 passengers from Jeddah to Tehran had been picking speed to take off from King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) when two back tires exploded.
“The pilot’s hard application of the brakes to abort takeoff caused a small fire on the aircraft’s rear tires. Firefighters promptly extinguished the fire,” said Abdul Hamid Al-Ora, spokesman for the General Authority of Civil Aviation. “No passengers were injured in the incident that happened at 11 p.m. Saturday.”
Normal flight operations at the airport was not affected and the runway was reopened shortly after the fire was put out.
