Passengers on a New Zealand-Australia Qantas flight that was the subject of a bomb scare have arrived in Sydney.


Flight QF142 was turned back to Auckland about 90 minutes into its journey to Sydney on Sunday morning after a suspicious item was reported to have been found on board.


Qantas said Auckland police had met the plane on arrival and conducted checks on the aircraft.

NZ police said in a statement that the item had turned out to be a part of the interior of the aircraft that was not normally visible.


A spokeswoman for Qantas said the aircraft landed safely and without incident, and did not make an emergency landing.


‘‘The flight returned to Auckland as a precaution after an unidentified item was found on board,’’ she said in a statement on Sunday.


She said the passengers resumed their flight to Sydney at 1320 local time after police checks cleared the aircraft.


Earlier, a "suspicious item" that forced the jet to return to Auckland airport turned out to be part of the plane's interior that is not normally visible.


With AAP, with stuff.co.nz