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Air New Zealand flights in and out of Wellington were being held late on Friday night, after the main terminal building at the airport was evacuated.
Wellington Airport said the southwest pier and main terminal building were cleared after a smoke alarm was triggered.
"No one is reported to be hurt and emergency services including FENZ and Airport Fire Service are on site."
Fire and Emergency NZ said it received a call through an automated alarm at 7.15pm, which was responded to by the Wellington Fire Brigade and the Wellington Airport Fire Brigade. Nine appliances were at the scene.
"It's been escalated to a second alarm level. Now they've reported it being a piece of machinery on fire. It has activated a sprinkler system as well," a Fenz spokesperson said.
It was not known if the fire was inside or outside the building.
In a statement, Wellington Airport said passengers were advised to check with their airlines for information on specific flights.
"We will provide further updates tonight as they come to hand."
One woman waiting in the building earlier said it appeared the roof over the departure gate area was on fire.
She was just about to board Air New Zealand flight NZ 377 to Christchurch when passengers already on the plane started to be evacuated.
A fire alarm went off about 7.10pm, she said.
"It was chaos. Gate staff appeared confused and instructions were not provided for about 10 minutes.
"You could see smoke and smell it. We are now being evacuated out of the terminal. It's a total mess."
Alex, who was waiting to catch a plane to Nelson, said he was in one of the Koru lounges and an alarm went off saying the terminal was "on standby" and people should stay where they were.
He said that lasted for about 20 minutes before staff came and evacuated them.
He said staff told him a fire started at the other Koru lounge.
"We could see quite a lot of smoke ... and we could definitely smell it. There was smoke coming out of the building."
Alex said the staff were pretty relaxed and he was headed home to wait to hear when he could fly.
Mike Keen said he had just checked in his baggage and was waiting to board when he found out they had to evacuate.
"All of a sudden, there were these loud sirens going off and voice saying this area is on hold, stay where you are."
"Everyone could see the ... smoke [out the window] and the fire crews and whatnot."
He said the smoke was coming from a roof section near the security section.
Keen said he was supposed to be heading to Auckland to get a flight to Britain.
'Extremely unorganised'
A couple waiting to fly home from Wellington Airport said the evacuation had been extremely un-organised.
The couple from Auckland were trying to get home to their children, but said there had been a lack of communication from the airport about what was happening.
"We were told to go outside and then nothing else after that. The bar manager told us where to go. So it feels extremely un-organised and quite mind-blowing that one of our biggest airports isn't slightly better organised."
Tommi Siitonen was trying to get home to Christchurch from Queenstown. He was routed through Auckland tomorrow morning, but opted for Wellington to get back tonight. Now he has to find somewhere to sleep.
"Just frustrating, you can't do much about a fire evacuation.
"Sort of stranded at the moment and haven't heard from any Air NZ people or airport people. I've got another flight scheduled for tomorrow."
Ewan Keith was on the way to Christchurch for his brother's birthday when they were evacuated.
He told RNZ he felt the staff were helpful during the evacuation, and had handled the situation well.
Affected flights
Air New Zealand spokesperson Kate Boyer said the airline's flights in and out of the capital were being held until further notice.
Customers booked to travel had been given the ability to change their flights free of charge, and should check the AirNZ app for the latest information, she said.
She said customers were encouraged to defer their own travel, but the airline was working to support affected customers as quickly as possible.
A Jetstar spokesperson said none of its flights were affected.
Sounds Air director Andrew Crawford said flights from Blenheim and Nelson bound for Wellington were delayed, and the company was awaiting the all clear from the airport.
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz |  |