One of Australia’s busiest airports has reopened its second runway after it was blocked by a plane damaged during an aborted take-off.

The Etihad plane with nearly 300 passengers aboard was forced to abort its take-off from Melbourne Airport on Sunday when two tyres exploded.

The Abu Dhabi-bound flight was literally seconds from lifting off after 6pm when the pilots had to slam on the emergency brakes.

“The flight crew decided to reject the take-off for technical reasons and emergency services attended as a precaution,” Etihad said.

Footage showed aviation firetrucks surrounding the Boeing 787 and spraying foam onto its landing gear when multiple vehicles responded to the emergency.

Etihad said passengers and crew aboard Flight EY461 were uninjured and safely disembarked.

Aviation firetrucks attended the emergency. Photo: X

One passenger told 3AW that the landing gear had “apparently caught fire”, forcing the pilots to “slam on the emergency brakes”.

Witnesses watching planes take off told Sunrise they saw two tyres explode and that the landing gear looked like it had caught on fire.

Etihad said the flight was delayed and the “safety and comfort of our guests and crew remains our highest priority”.

Due to the damage to its tyres, the plane remained on the tarmac on Monday morning but was able to be towed off the runway just after 8am.

It meant flights were disrupted at Melbourne Airport as it operated one runway for all arrivals and departures – on the day many Australians return to work after the festive period.

“While there have been no cancellations at this stage, there have been disruptions to some flights,” a spokesperson said.

“Some flights have departed with less fuel and will need to refuel on the way to their final destination.”

The spokesperson said Etihad has advised the airport it is re-booking passengers on future flights.

-with AAP