Hong Kong - A pilot and his co-pilot have been suspended after they tried to take off from a taxiway rather than a runway at Hong Kong International Airport, investigators said Saturday.

An air traffic controller raised the alarm when he saw a South Korea-bound Hong Kong Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 122 passengers hurtling down a taxiway running parallel to the airport's north runway.

The controller radioed the pilot and alerted him in time for him to abort the takeoff after around 500 metres and take off from the runway instead, Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department said.

The incident took place September 13 on a charter flight bound for Cheong Ju and operated by 7-year-old Hong Kong Airlines, which with sister airline Hong Kong Express flies to 30 cities in Asia.

Indonesian captain Indra Santrianto and his first officer Diego Martin Chiadria, an Argentinian, have been suspended from duty while the airline and Civil Aviation Department investigate the incident.

Santrianto was summoned to explain himself last weekend and insisted in an interview and a written report that he did not try to take off from the taxiway, an airline management source said.

Instead, he claimed he was travelling so rapidly down the taxiway for the early morning flight that air traffic controllers might have mistaken his approach for an attempted takeoff.

Flight data examined by investigators showed the plane was travelling at a higher speed than would be expected for an aircraft taxiing toward a takeoff position, the source said.

Since the incident, a memo has been sent out by management to all Hong Kong Airlines pilots saying, "Ensure you are on a runway before taking off."

Taxiways at Hong Kong International Airport run the entire length of the runways but are narrower, have different coloured lighting and unlike runways do not have lights up the centre.

One senior Hong Kong-based pilot told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, "It is very difficult to mistake a taxiway for a runway, especially at an airport as modern as Chek Lap Kok, but it does sometimes happen.

"There is nothing on board a plane to warn you if you take off from a taxiway or if you stray onto an active runway, and this is a problem that needs addressing."

A spokeswoman for Hong Kong Airlines said the incident was under investigation by the company's management and she could make no further comment on it.

The Civil Aviation Department said in a statement that despite the pilot's claims, it believed he tried to take off from the taxiway instead of the runway.

"The air traffic controller stopped the aircraft as soon as the aircraft began to move," the statement said. "There was no danger to the aircraft or the passengers at any point."

It said it was also investigating the incident. (dpa)