Air New Zealand bosses have removed a sexy in-flight safety video featuring models Christie Brinkley, Chrissy Teigen and Hannah Davis following a backlash over allegations the film is sexist.

The Safety in Paradise video also starred fellow bikini-clad beauties Jessica Gomes and Ariel Meredith instructing airline passengers on what to do in the event of an emergency.

The short film drew heavy criticism from some consumers, who objected to the clip being shown on board, and even prompted them to launch a petition on Change.org calling for it to be taken down.

Air New Zealand chiefs have now removed the clip from its air crafts, but insist their actions have nothing to do with the allegations of sexism.

Airline spokeswoman Emma Fields tells Eonline.com, "We typically change out our safety videos every few months.

"As scheduled we began phasing in the Bear Essentials of Safety video featuring (Tv survivalist) Bear Grylls on our fleet around a week ago and this process is almost complete."