Customers on Skyline Queenstown's gondolas were left hanging for at least 20 minutes on Sunday night after the company stopped the ride for safety reasons.

The popular gondola ride takes people up Bob's Peak to the restaurant and luge ride, offering views across Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.

In a statement Skyline said the gondola was shut down for 20 minutes "as a precaution" when a cabin that was being removed from the line was dislodged from the conveyor at the bottom terminal.

"The gondola system - which was not at full capacity at the time - was cleared of all passengers once the cabin was removed from the line. A thorough inspection was conducted by cableway engineers," the company said.

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No one was in the cabin and all passengers were safe at all times, Skyline Enterprises executive chairman Mark Quickfall said.

Staff had to use the emergency handle on the outside of one of the cabins to let passengers out.

Quickfall said staff got everyone off the gondola line, apologised for the delay and then halted for 10 minutes for engineers to carry out an inspection.

The gondola restarted operation about 6.10pm. The incident and response will be reviewed today, Skyline said.