A Qantas flight from Sydney to Auckland was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday after pilots received warning of a potential fire in the cargo hold.
The Boeing 737, operating as flight QFA141, declared a mayday while flying over the Tasman Sea. A mayday call is an international distress signal requiring full emergency assistance.
The aircraft landed without incident at the Auckland airport shortly before midday local time.
Emergency services in New Zealand said they were alerted at about 11.05am local time following reports of smoke onboard the flight.
The airport confirmed the plane touched down safely at 11.47am and was met by 16 fire trucks and multiple ambulances. No passengers required any medical treatment.
The airline said in a statement that the crew had been responding to “intermittent indication about potential fire in the cargo hold” for an hour before arrival.
“Our engineers will inspect the aircraft to determine the cause,” a spokesman said, adding that preliminary checks suggested there was no fire in the front cargo hold.
There were 156 passengers onboard, Qantas said, adding that all disembarked safely.
The airport said emergency crews were placed on standby after the aircraft made the mayday call.
“The airfield is now returning to normal but there may be some slight delays for departing and arriving flights,” it said in a statement.
Among the passengers was SBS World News presenter Janice Petersen. She said that the flight “seemed to be going relatively smoothly” until the final hour.
“I saw cabin crew looking concerned and quickly moving towards the back of the plane as instructed by the pilot. It seemed unusual,” she said.
Passengers were not initially told of any difficulty, Ms Petersen said, but the pilot later made an announcement “acknowledging smoke detected in the cargo”.
He warned that fire crews would assess the aircraft after landing and mentioned that escape slides could be deployed if needed.
