Fire at Wellington Airport terminal

Passengers have been left stranded, unable to get to their destinations or access their luggage, after a fire at Wellington Airport on Friday night.

A spokesperson for the airport said the southwest pier and main terminal building were evacuated after a smoke alarm was triggered just after 7pm. There were no reports of injuries.

All Air New Zealand flights in and out of the airport were on hold for about four hours, but the airport spokesperson said some international flights were scheduled to arrive on time throughout the night.

The Wellington Airport website showed two flights from Sydney, a Qantas and an Air New Zealand service, landed about midnight.

All Air New Zealand flights in and out of the airport were on hold for about four hours.

The airport advised passengers to check with their airlines for information on specific flights.

"The airport will be open as usual tomorrow (Saturday), however there may be some flow-on disruptions to flights so passengers are advised to check directly with their airlines," the spokesperson said.

"We understand it was a disconcerting experience for people and apologise for the inconvenience. Our number one priority is always safety which is why we quickly and safely evacuated the terminal. We provided food, drinks and blankets along with updates for affected passengers and staff."

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) would be investigating the cause of the fire, the spokesperson said.

Emergency services at Wellington Airport after a fire broke out.

FENZ said it received a call through the automated alarm at 7:15pm, which was responded to by the Wellington Fire Brigade and the Wellington Airport Fire Brigade.

A spokesperson confirmed there were a total of nine trucks 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."

They could not confirm if it was inside or outside the building.

Evacuations at Wellington Airport after a fire.

'It was chaos'

Outside the terminal, ground staff announced passengers would not be able to retrieve any luggage that had been checked or left on a plane when evacuations took place.

Instead, passengers were told to come back on Saturday. The announcement was met with frustration, as people swarmed to ask questions.

One woman who was waiting in the airport when the alarm went off said it appeared the roof over the departure gate area was on fire.

She was just about to board Air New Zealand flight NZ377 to Christchurch when passengers who had already boarded started to be evacuated from the plane.

"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 and then staff came and evacuated them.

He said staff told him the 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."

People evacuated from Wellington Airport sit outside the terminal after smoke alarms were activated.

Alex said the staff were pretty relaxed where he was, and he wasn't too scared because he knew that he was safe.

He has now headed home, and will wait to hear when he can fly.

Mike Keen said he'd checked in for his flight and was waiting to board.

"All of a sudden there was these really loud sirens going off and a 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.

Staff evacuating the airport after the fire.

'Extremely unorganised'

An Auckland couple waiting to fly home from Wellington airport said the evacuation was extremely un-organised.

The couple 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 Saturday morning, but opted for Wellington to get back on Friday night. 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."

Smoke can b…