More details have emerged of the incident at Auckland International Airport which led to a full emergency being declared this afternoon.
The tail of a Singapore Airlines jumbo jet struck the runway of the Airport during take-off.
The 747-400 took off around 3.20 this afternoon bound for Singapore.
It was forced to circle the airport several times and eye witnesses reported seeing the plane flying at extremely low altitudes before finally returning safely to the tarmac.
One eye witness phoned Radio Hauraki and said he saw the tail of the plane scraping along the runway during take-off, and briefly catching fire.
It is understood the passengers were forced to stay on board the jumbo jet immediately after landing because the crew were unable to power down the jumbo's engines.
A spokesman for Singapore Airlines says all passengers have now disembarked.
It is not yet known what went wrong during take-off procedures.
Other flights have been diverted to other cities during the emergency