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There were some anxious moments for travellers at Pakistan's largest airport when they were forced to make an emergency exit as smoke filled the cabin of an Emirates plane.

Over 80 passengers and crew had to scramble out of the plane by jumping down an emergency chute minutes before it was scheduled to take off at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on Saturday night.

Investigators are attempting to identify the source of the smoke.

Emergency exit: Passengers were forced to flee an Emirates plane using its emergency slides (file photo)

Pakistani civil aviation spokesman Pervez George told the Associated Press that the Dubai-bound plane came to a halt on the tarmac after smoke started pouring out of the cabin.

The Airbus aircraft had just pushed back from the gate when the emergency was declared. 

Everyone escaped the plane safely and the passengers were taken to a lounge to wait for another aircraft to transport them to Dubai, Mr George said. Other flights were not affected.

In a statement, Emirates apologised to passengers and said flight EK609 was cancelled due to a 'technical issue'.

Everyone escaped the plane safely and the passengers were taken to a lounge to wait for another aircraft