Engineers yesterday carried out an inspection of the Q300 to determine if the aircraft could be relocated to the main engineering base at Nelson Airport for further investigation and repair.
The aircraft was moved off the runway yesterday afternoon and a special flight permit will be sought from the aircraft manufacturer Bombardier and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to fly it to Nelson with landing gear locked in place.
It's expected the aircraft will be relocated in the next day or so.
"The engineers' initial inspection suggests this incident is unrelated to the Q300 nose wheel failure in September last year," an Air NZ spokeswoman said.
Air NZ flight NZ8309, operated by subsidiary Air Nelson, was flying from Hamilton to Wellington when it was diverted to Blenheim yesterday afternoon because the nose wheel failed to come down.
Police and firefighters were on standby as the plane circled over Blenheim for about 30 minutes.
The aircraft eventually made a safe landing, the nose skidding along the runway, with no injuries to the 41 passengers and three crew.
Arrangements were made to either accommodate the passengers or transport them to Nelson to board a special flight.
Flight NZ8309 was the second Air Nelson plane to suffer nose wheel problems in the past few months, with another Q300 making an emergency landing at Blenheim on September 30 last year. It was a different aircraft to that involved in yesterday's landing.
In 2007, an Eagle Air Beech 1900D aircraft with 17 people on board made an emergency belly landing at Blenheim after its landing gear failed.
CAA said it would not be prepared to comment on the nose gear failing until today.
