A Delta Air Lines flight was forced to evacuate passengers and crew after smoke filled the cabin shortly after take-off.

       The internal US Boeing 717-200 flight was due to be travelling to Columbia Metropolitan Airport, South Carolina, from Atlanta, Georgia, when the terrifying event happened.

       Frightening footage filmed inside the cabin shows visibility down to almost zero as thick smoke fills the passenger compartment inside Delta Flight 876.

       ABC7 news reports the commerical airline has 94 passengers on board, as well as two pilots and three flight attendants. It's understood the plane returned safely and landed in Atlanta, according to Delta and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

       A Delta spokesperson told US media: "Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, and we apologise to our customers for the experience."

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       The spokesperson added that a "haze inside the aircraft was observed", and a FAA spokesperson said "the crew reported possible smoke in the flightdeck".

       An FAA investigation has been launched.

       The incident on a Delta aircraft comes exactly a week after another of the airline's jets crash-landed in Toronto, Canada, as it attempted to land in high winds.

       As the aircraft, carrying 76 passengers and four crew, came into land it skidded on the runway and burst into flames before coming to a halt upside down.

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       Miraculously all the passengers and crew escaped with relatively minor injuries.

       It's understood the people involved in the horror crash will all be offered $30,000 in compensation, around ￡23,000. A spokesperson for Delta said the money offer had no strings attached and did not affect customers' rights.

       North America has seen four major incidents in the air over the past three weeks, with mid-air collisions in Washington, an air ambulance transport tragedy in Philadelphia, and on Wednesday a crash in Arizona in which two people lost their lives when their small planes collided.