Australia's Qantas flight lands safely after mayday call

A flight of Australia's national carrier, Qantas, safely landed at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport on Wednesday after issuing a mayday call en route earlier.

Flight QF144, a twin-jet Boeing 737-838, lost one of its two engines in the mid-air from New Zealand's Auckland to Sydney.

The national broadcaster ABC News cited Qantas as saying the plane was met by emergency services in line with standard procedures.

The 10-year-old aircraft seats up to 174 passengers, and there are normally six crew on board the narrow body jets, local newspaper the Australian said.

"We will share more information about this incident once the aircraft is on the ground and has been assessed by our engineers," a Qantas spokesperson said.