Flight lands back at Christchurch Airport after bird strike

A Fiji Airways flight that sparked an emergency callout has finally landed after circling in the air for two hours above Canterbury.

The airline confirmed the plane hit a bird during take-off around 2pm on Thursday and had to return to Christchurch Airport. A large dent could be seen on the nose of the plane after it landed several hours later.

RNZ understands the Boeing 737-800 has more than 170 passengers on board and was forced to enter a holding pattern to burn fuel before attempting to land.

In a statement, Fiji Airways said all guests and crew on board flight FJ450 were safe and their flight and engineering teams were closely monitoring the situation as the plane prepared to land.

"Safety remains our highest priority."

The plane landed shortly before 4.45pm.

The flight was destined for Nadi.