Passengers bound for Melbourne from Queenstown last night have described their “absolutely horrifying” flight after flames burst from the engine, forcing an emergency landing.

Footage from inside the plane has emerged online, showing flames shooting out from the side of the Virgin Airlines plane before it diverted to Invercargill.

One Flight VA148 passenger told the Otago Daily Times that the experience was “absolutely horrifying”.

“We are beyond keen to get home, but no idea what is going on,” she said.

Serene Ting Gin Luoi reported seeing flames out of the window which was very scary.

Her mother Chan Su Fang told the ODT the mood inside the plane had been worried but calm.

Virgin Australia chief operations officer Stuart Aggs said passengers will now be taken back to Queenstown on a bus, flown to Brisbane at 4.30 before leaving for Melbourne at 9.25pm.

The Virgin aircraft was diverted to Invercargill Airport and made an emergency landing just before 7pm with “no visible flames”.

The plane had just left Queenstown Airport and appeared to have experienced engine trouble during take-off.

Members of the public reported seeing flames coming from an engine and heard loud bangs, as the flight ascended about 6pm.

Virgin Airlines confirmed 73 people were on board, including 67 passengers and six crew.

A passenger on the plane said on social media there had been a bird strike.

Video footage from the ground shows flames coming from the plane as it climbed over the Shotover Delta shortly after 6pm, with witnesses reporting “loud bangs”.

Writing on X (formerly Twitter), the passenger said the pilot made the announcement over the public address system.

“Pilot confirmed us hitting several birds on the way out. We’re now sitting on the Invercargill runway as the fire crews check for damage.”

VOZ148 Flight from Queenstown to Melbourne is diverted to Invercargill after what appears to be an engine fire on board. Photo / via Queenstown Trading Meta
VOZ148 Flight from Queenstown to Melbourne is diverted to Invercargill after what appears to be an engine fire on board. Photo / via Queenstown Trading Meta

Queenstown Airport’s chief executive believes a large bird must have been involved in the incident.

Glen Sowry told RNZ’s Morning Report bird strike couldn’t be confirmed until the 737′s engine was inspected by engineers.

There had been a couple of confirmed bird strikes involving smaller birds at the airport over the past month, which was pretty normal activity, he said.

“If you get a bigger bird that is ingested into an engine, which looks probable that this is what may have occurred on this occasion, then depending on whereabouts through the engine it goes it can do quite significant damage to critical parts of the engine.”

Witness Nick Lambert saw the aircraft flying overhead.

“It was making one hell of a pulsing/throbbing noise out of one engine then it was shooting flames out – maybe hit a bird?

“It continued climbing and the noise and flame stopped.”

Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Glynn Lewers said it would have been a pretty scary moment for the passengers, but all the procedures and protocols for that type of incident went according to plan.

“From our point of view, the airline and pilot did what needed to be done and followed procedures and we got a safe landing in Invercargill, which is great.”

In an update shortly before 9pm, Aggs said all passengers had safely disembarked the aircraft.

The Civil Aviation Authority said it was aware of the incident involving a Virgin Australia aircraft which took off from Queenstown and diverted to Invercargill.

“It was unofficially reported that there was an engine fire on climb-out as a result of a suspected bird strike.”

Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.

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