After the original issue "resolved itself" the Royal New Zealand Airforce Boeing 757 had to abort its take-off from the Australian airbase after another technical issue.

The Prime Minister has defended his broken down airforce plane and said plans to replace the fleet in the future won't be sped up because of the disruptions to his India trip.

A replacement plane is on its way to Australia from Auckland to meet John Key and his delegation and will head on to India on Tuesday morning.

Key's plane was grounded at Townsville airbase in Queensland after a series of technical faults and delays.

Due to the fact the plane's crew need to rest, the delegation will stay in Townsville overnight and depart for New Delhi first thing on Tuesday.

The Mumbai leg of the trip has now been cancelled - the business delegation travelling with Key were meant to be taking part in an innovation showcase while there.

Key would also miss a visit to Shree Siddhivinayak Marble Temple, speaking at the Bombay Stock exchange, meeting the chief minister of Maharashtra and signing an education agreement.

He said it was disappointing "particularly for the business delegation" but the main purpose of the trip, a bilateral with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would still go ahead.

"At some point [the planes] will be replaced but in the natural course of things, I'm sure the airforce will go away and look at the issue," Key said.

"It's a little bit sub-optimal but we're in Townsville and the options aren't great from this perspective - there's no international options we can take, not easily anyway, so you just have to roll with the punches."

The delegation, which includes former BlackCaps captain Brendon McCullum, was originally delayed for three hours after a technical issue kept their plane grounded and an attempt to take off was aborted.

They were then told they would be boarding The Royal New Zealand Airforce's Boeing 757 shortly, only to hit a technical snag once again after a second take-off failed.

"Over the course of the last eight years as Prime Minister on my overseas travel I've very sensibly used the Airforce 757 and historically they've been very reliable.

As much as it's frustrating it's one of those things you have to accept with aircraft that they occasionally run into problems," Key said.

While officials made a decision about how to proceed, Key, his wife Bronagh and the delegation were delivered Subway sandwiches and cookies as they sat around at the airbase awaiting further instructions.

Key and a 35-strong delegation was due to arrive in Mumbai at 2am (NZT).

Also on board was the New Zealand Defence Force cricket team, who have scheduled games against their Indian counterparts. They will miss at least their first game as a result of the disruptions.

McCullum and Key were presented playing shirts by the team in Townsville, where they chatted and Key asked if they hoped to win.

While one player replied, "that's the plan", another quipped, "well we can't do any worse than the BlackCaps" - the comment drew a gasp and chuckle from McCullum.

The Prime Minister is heading to India to try and get a free trade agreement across the line after about 10 attempts since 2010.

The last time the RNZAF plane was used by Key was last month when it was delayed leaving Vientiane in Laos after a technical issue.

At the time Key was in Laos at the East Asia Summit and was leaving to head to Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia for the Pacific Islands' Forum.