WATCH: Qatari flight aborts JFK takeoff at high speed

Airline was introducing new plane to a flight full of journalists; on-board computers determined that runway was too short for safe liftoff

A Qatar Airways flight aborted its takeoff at high-speed at New York’s JFK airport, in an incident made particularly embarrassing because the plane was full of journalists invited aboard a brand new Airbus A350-900.

Several journalists filmed from inside the plane as it screamed to a halt on Thursday night from some 100 miles per hour.

Aviation reporter Zach Honig, editor-in-chief of The Points Guy, who posted video of the aborted takeoff online, called it a “terrifying” experience and dryly described it as “undoubtedly now the most memorable flight of my life.”

The plane, heading to Doha, had only 36 passengers on board — all journalists in business class invited to experience the new airliner. The economy seats in the plane were empty. Footage of the takeoff was being broadcast onto their entertainment screens.

“About 18 seconds after we began rolling down JFK’s runway 22R, the aircraft self-aborted, bringing us from more than 100mph to a loud, screeching halt in roughly 15 seconds,” Honig reported. “For a plane of this size and weight, stopping that quickly required a lot of force. To give you another idea of how abruptly we stopped … nearly all of the 200-plus pillows and blankets landed on the floor, having previously been neatly arranged on each seat in economy.”

Qatar Airways said the plane’s computers aborted the takeoff, having assessed that there was insufficient runway left for a safe liftoff.

Wrote Honig: “As I understand it, for some reason the A350 decided that our 11,000-foot runway was too short to support the takeoff, and the plane applied the brakes at full force — all on its own. I was told that we would be taxiing to a different (less glitchy) runway, and would attempt another takeoff there. If that failed, we would be allowed to disembark.”

Zach Honig in seat 6F before take-off (The Points Guy)

Nobody was hurt in the incident. The plane took off two hours later from a different runway. Honig said he and another journalist would have liked to get off the plane, but were not allowed to do so.

The state-owned carrier, which bills itself as “the world’s 5-star airline,” had no immediate comment on the incident.