UPDATE: V Australia has confirmed that alternative seats have been secured for all guests originally booked to travel from Los Angeles to Sydney on VA02 on 13 April. The airline said a detailed inspection of one of the engines is ongoing, however no major damage has been
found to date. Timing for the aircraft’s return to service will be determined once all required inspections are completed.

V Australia passengers were stranded in Los Angeles overnight after their original Boeing 777 aircraft encountered engine problems and aborted its take-off. Flight VA02 was in the early stages of its take-off from Los Angeles International Airport about 10pm (AEST) on Thursday when its pilot abandoned the flight. Passengers have reported hearing a bang consistent with an engine surge.

V Australia said the aircraft made a ground return to the terminal as a precautionary measure as the pilot had an issue with the performance of the left engine. Meanwhile, international guests were provided overnight hotel accommodation in Los Angeles. Local guests who needed to go home and return will have the cost of their transport reimbursed.

The airline said it is working to minimise delays as it continues to assist guests with alternate travel arrangements including transferring them to other carriers. It has chartered a jumbo jet Boeing 747 to fly today between Brisbane and the US while it works out how long the plane in a rejected take-off last night will remain grounded in LA.

Engineers are already examining the aircraft to establish the cause of the engine malfunction. A preliminary engineering report is expected to be released later today to shed more light on the incident.

The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Here is an exclusive time lapse footage of Australia's first Boeing 777-300ER being built from the ground up.