SINGAPORE – A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight landed at Japan’s Narita International Airport on Aug 12 with smoke billowing from the plane’s tyres because of technical issues with its brakes.

       Earlier reports said the smoke came from the Boeing 787 aircraft’s left engine, but an SIA spokesperson clarified that Flight SQ638, which left Changi Airport on Aug 11, experienced a technical issue with its brakes upon landing at Narita in Tokyo on the morning of Aug 12.

       There were 260 passengers and 16 crew members aboard the plane. No injuries were reported.

       SIA said its ground engineering team at Narita had resolved the issue and replaced one of the tyres.

       The incident resulted in a delay to Flight SQ637, the same aircraft which departed from Narita for Changi at 1.28pm local time (12.28pm Singapore time) on Aug 12 – just over two hours after its scheduled 11.10am departure time.

       SIA apologised to its customers for the inconvenience caused by the delay, said its spokesperson, adding that the safety of its customers and staff was the airline’s priority.

       In a media reply on Aug 12, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said it is aware of the incident and, together with SIA, is looking into the cause of the technical issue.

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       Narita city’s fire department in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo received a report about the incident around 7.45am, the Japanese media reported.

       Narita airport closed Runway B, where SQ638 landed, for around 50 minutes while mechanics inspected the aircraft.

       About 20 fire engines were dispatched, according to the Narita fire department and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, reported Japanese broadcaster NHK.

       No fire was reported but tyre debris was found on the runway after the plane was towed away.