Jet's aborted take-off: 'He put the anchors on, dude'

The Cathay Pacific flight was attempting to take off from Auckland Airport. Photo / NZPA, Wayne Drought

A Cathay Pacific passenger has described the moment when an aircraft he was travelling on twice lurched to a halt just moments before take off.

Flight CX198 was scheduled to leave Auckland Airport for Hong Kong at 1.30pm on Saturday, but a passenger said the pilot aborted the take off at the last minute.

"I didn't know planes could stop that quickly," he said.

"The plane was fair hauling and about to lift when he put the anchors on, dude."

After the flight was aborted, passengers were returned to the terminal with a meal voucher, and waited five hours before reboarding.

The second flight was rescheduled for 11pm but was again aborted just before take off, the man wrote.

"This time the pilot was stopping in a hell of a hurry," he said.

"Engine number three had a problem - ironically it was near us."

In a written statement, Cathay Pacific acknowledged the incidents had occurred and apologised to passengers.

Spokesman Mark Pirihi said the A340 aircraft returned to the gate upon take off when the flight crew picked up an issue in one of the four engines.

"Passengers were given refreshment vouchers and were then reboarded after tests.

"At 7pm engine issues were still identified and the aircraft returned to the gate. Passengers returned home or were accommodated in local hotels although some passengers were able to be sent on other flights last night," Mr Pirihi said.

"The remaining passengers were rebooked on other airlines or departed on today's CX198 flight.

"Cathay Pacific regrets any inconvenience caused to passengers on yesterday's flight, but their safety is always our uppermost priority."