Air New Zealand plane pulls out of landing after another aircraft on runway

Airways says the go-around was standard procedure and aircraft were not at risk. Photo / Grant Bradley

An Air New Zealand flight pulled out of a landing after a pilot said the aircraft was getting too close to another plane.

The Wellington to Auckland flight had just touched down at Auckland Airport last night, when it took back off, a passenger said.

After some time circling the surrounding suburbs, the captain of NZ456 told passengers the aircraft was too close for comfort with another plane: "We just had to go around there, got a little bit too close to the aircraft that had lined up and took off in front of us."

The Airbus A320 landed again and without incident at 8.49pm. Passengers were calm and seemed unconcerned throughout both landings, the passenger said.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the pilots elected to carry out a go-around procedure as on final approach to Auckland Airport another aircraft due to take off had yet clear the runway.

An Airways spokeswoman said there had been no near miss and the aircraft remained safely separated during its landing at the airport.

''A go-around is a normal air traffic control procedure that is used to make sure aircraft stay safely separated. As there was no safety event last night, we don't have a record of exactly what the circumstances were in this case.''

The procedure could be required because another aircraft ahead of the landing plane has not vacated the runway as quickly as expected, or has taken longer to depart than anticipated.

''While a go-around might seem disconcerting to passengers, it may be necessary in a number of circumstances to maintain safe landing conditions,'' the passenger.