Moment of flight from Christchurch with landing in Wellington following the earthquake

An American woman traveling to Wellington described the moment when her flight was "taken" to the capital's airport after the Taumarunui earthquake.

Air New Zealand flight 6140 from Christchurch arrived in the capital 29 minutes late at 3:44 pm after the aircraft was initially not allowed to land.

Amy Gonzales said to the Herald The plane was descending into Wellington when she felt the jets come back on.

"We were flown back in circles until we were allowed to land," she said.

"The chief flight attendant came in and said something along the lines that we needed to do another approach.

"Then, less than 10 minutes later, the captain came in and said," There was a major earthquake and we were not allowed to land. "

The quake hit a magnitude of 6.2 with the epicenter located about 25 km southwest of Taumarunui, in the center of the North Island, at a depth of 207 km.

Gonzales, a native of San Diego, said most people remained calm on the plane, while New Zealand was hit by a "major earthquake".

"I admit that I cried thinking that my parents had heard about this" major earthquake "in New Zealand and that we did not know how bad it was or not", she said.

"And by turning around, we could not tell if the city was in ruins before we moved closer.

"Two women sitting in the aisle in front of me were holding hands and looking upset, I guess it's the same for New Zealand, but not for tourists. "

A spokesman for Air New Zealand told the Herald As a result, a small number of flights temporarily delayed their landing at Wellington.

"A small number of flights were needed to go around the Wellington Airport runway following the earthquake," they said.

"This has delayed their arrival in Wellington and could result in some minor delays on our national network this afternoon."

Gonzales said the flight had been circled three or four times before the plane was finally allowed to land at Wellington Airport.

"My only complaint would be that the captain does not provide any other information, such as how far the earthquake was or where there was ground damage," she said.

"Without the Internet, we could not look for ourselves, maybe he did not know it, but we were completely oblivious up there."