Smoke seen trailing from Air NZ aircraft in Wellington

This afternoon, an Air New Zealand ATR 72-600 aircraft was seen landing at Wellington Airport with thick smoke billowing from the left hand engine.

The ATR 72 landing on Wellington Airports runway 34 | Screenshot from a YouTube livestream on: Wellington Flights Live

The aircraft touched down just after 4pm this afternoon.

Shortly after landing, Wellington Airport Fire Crews we’re present at the aircraft in under 1 minute.

Once on the ground, the aircraft came to a stop and shutdown both engines. The smoke cleared soon after.

The exact reason that caused the smoke flowing from the engine is currently unknown.

The aircraft seen stopped on the runway after evacuation | Imagine from: @dudezeon on twitter

Passengers of the turboprop aircraft were evacuated onto the runway and then transported to the terminal in vans.

Thankfully, there is yet to be any injuries reported.

Smoke seen coming from the aircraft | Image from facebook: Melanie Wiffen

During the event multiple aircraft had to divert due to the occupied runway. These diversions included two Air NZ A320s and three Q300s.

Later, the aircraft was towed off the runway and airport operations were able to continue.

A Wellington Airport spokesperson confirmed this saying “the runway is now open so flights can operate normally. There may be flow-on disruptions so passengers are advised to contact their airlines.”