Mid-air panic as Air New Zealand plane suddenly loses cabin pressure

Passengers on an Air New Zealand flight to Auckland got something of a scare when the plane suddenly lost cabin pressure and quickly descended.

There were 76 passengers on board flight 414, which left Wellington at 7.30am on Friday.

The pilot has been praised for his quick action in bringing the Boeing 737-300 down from 33,000ft to 7,000ft.

Air New Zealand chief flight operations and safety officer Captain David Morgan told ninemsn.com.au: "The pilots immediately initiated a descent to 7,000ft and the cabin crew advised passengers that oxygen masks were no longer required at that point."

Ninemsn.com.au reports that one passenger on the flight, MP Claudette Hauiti, tweeted: "Drama on#airnz414 well-Akld depressurisation oxygen Masks down passengers calm crew great all is well landed safely."

According to the NZ Herald, Captain Morgan added: "Engineers are now investigating the cause of the incident."

The paper also reports that the plane has since been taken out of service and towed into quarantine while two officers from the Transport Accident Investigation Commission begin an inquiry.

Back in March, a Thomas Cook flight packed with 192 holidaymakers headed for Manchester had to divert to Faro after the plane lost cabin pressure.

The incident occurred on Friday 15 March as passengers flew back from Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.

And, in February, a British tourist on an Emirates flight said cabin pressure plunged after an emergency exit door blew open at 27,000ft.

David Reid told the Daily Mail that he and his son Lewis were terrified a bomb had gone off after they heard a 'massive explosion' two hours into their flight on a new Emirates Airbus A380 on Monday.

But a door in business class had allegedly come an inch and a half ajar.

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