MEXICO CITY - A JAPAN Airlines plane bound for Tokyo on Wednesday failed a second time to take off from Mexico City's airport after experiencing problems in one of its engines, the airline said.

'Yesterday and today we could not leave because of a problem with the engine. We're going to bring another plane tomorrow' so passengers can complete their journey to Tokyo, Yasushi Kimura, manager of Japan Airlines in Mexico, told AFP.

The Boeing 747-400 attempted its first take off on Tuesday, while carrying 322 passengers and 15 crew.

'It had just begun moving along the runways when the takeoff was aborted by mechanical failure in one of the plane's two engines,' an airline source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The plane was inspected and then set for a Wednesday takeoff, carrying one less passenger, but the pilot identified the same problem again before the aircraft even got to the runway, the source said. -- AFP