Smoke coming from the cockpit of the plane was reported when it was on the tarmac of Christchurch International Airport. The Fire Service spokesman said that emergency assistance was called to the airport during the early morning of November 8 by air traffic control.
According to reports byStuff, firefighters together with the three flight crew were detecting where the smoke emanated by using the thermal cameras. A Fire Service spokeswoman said that the firefighters since left the scene with the engineers working on the case to know the cause.
"There definitely was smoke in the cockpit, they haven't told us the cause. The plane was actually taxiing at the time and they noticed a bit of smoke so they took it back to the airport," the spokeswoman said as per Stuff. Meanwhile, an Air New Zealand spokeswoman attests that the passengers on board the Flight NZ5349 were disembarked after the purported "haze was detected on board". The aircraft was at a standstill during that time.
The Stuff also reported that Air New Zealand expressed their apologies for the inconvenience caused and advised that the passengers of the said flight will be accommodated on alternative services. The aircraft will now be inspected by engineers. Accordingly, one of the passengers of the plane, Julian Lee, is a reporter in Newshub.
"I was onboard a flight to Wellington and I could smell some smoke and I didn't know what it was," said Lee. "Then, lo and behold, the airline crew announced the plane was smoking and we had to get off," Lee added as per Newshub.
Air New Zealand is the national airline of New Zealand. Air New Zealand is an international and domestic airline group which provides air passenger services within New Zealand, as well as to and from Australia, the South West Pacific, Asia, North America and the United Kingdom, as stated in the Airlines' site.
