A Jetstar Japan plane headed for Narita failed to take off on Saturday morning after the plan landed at the runway safety area, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said.

''While positioning for takeoff, the aircraft overshot the turn causing the front and right landing gears to veer towards the runway safety area, leaving the front to get imbedded in the soft ground,'' the DOTr statement said.

The 140 passengers, including one infant, left the plane safely and were brought back to Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 by shuttle buses, DOTr added.

Runaway 13-21 was closed at 2:08 am and reopened at 1:10 pm.

At the time of incident, three Manila-bound flights were diverted to the Clark International Airport in Pampanga. These were Cebu Pacific flight 5J269 from Xiamen, Cebu Pacific flight 5J580 from Cebu, and Air Asia flight Z2889 from Seoul. All three flights later went to Manila.

As of 10 am, a total of eleven flights were delayed due to the incident. DMS