Air New Zealand has confirmed that a passenger travelling to Apia died before her flight landed yesterday afternoon.

The elderly Samoan woman died on flight NZ296 from Auckland.

The flight, due to land and for passengers to disembark at 2:10pm, kept all passengers on board for half an hour.

This was while the woman was removed by National Health and Air New Zealand staff, according to another passenger.

The passenger reports the elderly woman had Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) administered to her, but it appears she did not survive the emergency procedure.

At least three staff attended to the woman.

Her body was immediately transferred to a local hospital but efforts to revive her were not successful.

No further information was available about the cause of death at the time of writing.

Comment is being sought from the local authorities.

The death on Air New Zealand comes close to two months after a passenger also died on a Samoa Airways flight from Auckland to Samoa on December 26 last year.