Passengers and crew are all safe on board the CZ346 flight that returned to Amsterdam Schipol airport hours after taking off Wednesday afternoon. [Photo/Xinhua]

THE HAGUE - Passengers and crew are all safe on board the CZ346 flight that returned to Amsterdam Schipol airport hours after taking off Wednesday afternoon, China Southern Airline told Xinhua.

"Soon after taking off at 21:13 Beijing time (1313 GMT) from Amsterdam for Beijing, flight CZ346 reported a technical issue and the crew immediately decided to return," Pang Yedong, Amsterdam office head of China Southern Airline, told Xinhua.

"The plane safely landed at Amsterdam airport at 23:32 Beijing time (1532 GMT). All 354 passengers and 26 crew members on board are safe," said Pang.

He added that checks are being made over the plane, a A380 which started operating on Beijing-Amsterdam route starting from June 20 this year.