A United Airlines (UA) flight was delayed Thursday afternoon due to two flat tires in Pudong Airport of Shanghai, sources with the airport said.

Flight UA 858, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft scheduled for San Francisco, was sliding on the runway to take off at 1:50 p.m. when the pilot found the aircraft was hampered in swerving and the meter showed the alarm signal.

After checking, the pilot found two flat tires in the back row of the undercarriage. Then the aircraft was stopped for emergency repair and some 300 passengers were asked to get off the aircraft.

The incident did not affect other flights, sources with the airport said.

UA is a large airline company based in Chicago.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2005)