Chennai, July 27 - The Air Arabia Chennai-Sharjah flight was grounded at Chennai International Airport Monday morning due to technical problems in the aircraft.

Speaking to IANS on the condition of anonymity, an airport official said: 'The Airbus-320 belonging to Air Arabia flew into Chennai from Sharjah around 3 a.m. today (Monday). The aircraft got stuck in the runway and the pilot reported a problem about the nose wheel steering.'

The aircraft was towed to the parking bay and the passengers from Sharjah disembarked.

The problem was attended to and the flight was allowed to take off for Sharjah around 5 a.m.

'But thrice the plane taxied up to the runway but finding that the problem persisted, the pilot decided to abort the takeoff,' the official said, adding the aircraft was towed to the parking bay.

According to airport officials, the passengers were accommodated in city hotels and the flight has been rescheduled for Tuesday.