An Air New Zealand ATR 72-500 aircraft landed safely at Invercargill airport on Friday, 19 October 2012, after the crew shut down one of its engines during flight.

"A Mount Cook Airlines flight landed without incident at Invercargill airport this morning after the pilots encountered an issue with the aircraft controls relating to one of the engines," says ANZ.

"The pilots took the decision to shut down the corresponding engine and the aircraft made an uneventful landing."

The aircraft was operating as flight NZ5061 on the Christchurch-Invercargill route with 46 passengers and four crew. ANZ was unable to specify the aircraft's registration number.

Mount Cook Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of ANZ. The ATR 72-500 is powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW127 turboprops.

A spokeswoman at Invercargill airport confirmed that all passengers and crew disembarked safely, although emergency services were on standby when the aircraft landed.

"The whole thing was over in 10 minutes," she said.

Weather conditions in Invercargill are ranging from sunny to hail with gusty winds.

According Flightglobal's Ascend database, ANZ owns 11 ATR 72-500s.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news