Ambulance, fire and rescue and police were called to the airport when the captain of the plane travelling from Sydney to Albury requested a priority landing as a precaution.

The 62 people including four flight crew disembarked the plane without incident as checks were made of luggage with a team of engineers sent to Albury on a later flight to carry out inspections.

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Passengers booked to travel to Sydney on the grounded plane faced delays of more than three hours.

"QF2213 was flying from Sydney to Albury when the crew detected an unusual smell coming from the air vents in the galley," a Qantas spokesperson said.

"We've sent a team of engineers from Sydney to inspect the aircraft and return it to service.

"As a result that aircraft will overnight in Albury while the aircraft that normally spends the night in Albury will fly back to Sydney to make sure we get everyone where they need to be tonight, albeit with a delay of a few hours.

"We're grateful for the patience of our customers, with safety always our first priority."

The smell was detected in the latter stages of the flight, according to Qantas.

NSW Fire and Rescue Superintendent Stewart Alexander said emergency services were notified of the incident soon after 4.30pm and said the situation had been well managed.

"As a precaution luggage was secured and we ran some checks to make sure there were no problems," he said.

"We ran some gas detection equipment over that which is a standard procedure.

"It is a credit to passengers and flight staff.

"Everybody was very calm and the airport management here had the situation under control."

In total, three fire and rescue trucks, three ambulances and police descended on the airport.

The plane remained located outside the terminal building.