Malaysia Airlines passengers stranded at Auckland Airport

Sunday marks one year since MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Photo / AP

Passengers on a Malaysia Airlines flight have expressed their frustration on social media after they were left stranded in their plane for three hours on the tarmac at Auckland Airport this afternoon.

An Auckland Airport spokesman said passengers boarded Malaysia Airlines Flight 130, from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur, about 1pm this afternoon.

"They were supposed to leave at 1.15pm this afternoon but due to engineering requirement, they were on the plane for close to three and a bit hours before they were off-loaded."

After a tedious wait, passengers were finally allowed to leave the grounded plane at 4.20pm.

He said the delayed plane was going to be cancelled, but before that engineers were carrying out one more engine run and there was still no estimated departure time.

On Twitter, passenger Owen Williams said six hours after the delay, he still had not received an update.

"What a nightmare: still no update about my flight six hours later. Ended up rebooking on another airline under insurance.

"This s*** is bananas."

Earlier today, Mr Williams said: "Still stuck on the Tarmac at Auckland airport after three hours. Nobody knows if we're getting off or what's happening."

In a response to Mr Williams tweet, Auckland Airport said there was an "engineering issue" and staff in the gate lounge would be able to answer any questions.

Malaysia Airlines were not immediately available for comment.