Air New Zealand flight's departure delayed at Auckland Airport because of technical difficulties

An Air New Zealand flight has been delayed in departing from Auckland Airport after the pilot was unable to take off because of "technical issues".

Air NZ547, was due to leave Auckland for Christchurch at 2pm.

However it has since returned to the departure gate, where the pilot cited "technical issues" and announced it would likely be a "quick fix".

An engineer was in the cabin with the pilot.

A hostess told a passenger on the flight the problem was luggage shifting around when the brakes were applied or released.

A spokesperson from Air New Zealand said the crew detected the sound and notified the Captain shortly after the flight pushed back from the gate.

"Engineers have since inspected the aircraft and cleared it to depart, which it will do very shortly," the spokesman said.

The pilot had said he would not take off unless he was "110 per cent" sure everything is working normally.