SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's plane, which encountered a mechanical problem after leaving Australia to return to the United States, landed safely in Singapore on Sunday.

"This was the pre-planned, scheduled fuel stop," said Cheney's spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride. "We were not diverted," she added, following a comment by Australia's Prime Minister John Howard that Cheney's plane had been diverted to Singapore because of the mechanical problem.

McBride said there had been an issue with the electricity on the plane. Because of that, "a call was placed back to Sydney with the status," she said, adding the electrical problem did not cut off Cheney's ability to communicate with the rest of the world.

The plane left Sydney's international airport at about 9 a.m. on Sunday (5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) Saturday), arriving at Singapore's Paya Lebar air base at about 2 p.m. Singapore time.

(0600 GMT).