An Air New Zealand aircraft has made an emergency landing at Wellington Airport this afternoon after its engine caught fire.

Dramatic live video captured the aircraft’s approach with thick smoke billowing from an engine just after 4pm.

Fire and Emergency were advised of the incident but were stood down upon arrival, saying “Crash Fire” teams extinguished the blaze.

A livestream video of the incident shows passengers having to jump about a metre from the plane’s doors onto the tarmac.

A witness says passengers are all standing to the side of the runway on a grass verge.

“Ambulance is leaving the scene now, two large fire trucks still there and a couple of other small emergency vehicles”.

Nathan Culevski posted on Facebook about seeing the dramatic incident.

“Just arrived as we watched huge ploom of smoke come from the ATR. Everyone has safely evacuated.”

An Air New Zealand spokesperson said the flight involved, NZ5366, was travelling from Christchurch to Wellington. The cause of the incident is not yet known.

A Wellington Airport spokesperson said: “The runway is now open so flights can operate normally. There may be some flow-on disruptions so passengers are advised to contact their airlines.”

A plane has had an emergency landing in Wellington this afternoon. Photo / Romeo Wellington

Fire and Emergency were advised of an ATR aircraft engine fire in Wellington this afternoon. Photo / Supplied

It comes after a June 17 drama when an aircraft made an emergency landing in Invercargill when flames were seen coming from its engine over Queenstown.

Members of the public reported seeing flames coming from an engine and heard loud bangs, as the Virgin Airlines VA148 flight to Melbourne ascended from the southern airport.

One witness who took footage of the incident wrote: “Sounded like it was coming apart over our house. One engine was throwing flames and sputtering out.”

More to come.