A Canadian North plane was diverted to Fredericton on Tuesday when oil pressure dropped in one of its engines. (CBC)

A Canadian North plane travelling from St. John's to Winnipeg made an emergency landing in Fredericton on Tuesday.

Fire crews were dispatched to the Fredericton airport on Tuesday morning as the Boeing 737 landed with only one engine working.

There were 31 people on the plane, which landed safely. The passengers were mostly oilsands workers heading to Western Canada. Most of them said they were more unnerved by the cameras and microphones that greeted them in the airport than by the landing itself.

Gordon Butt of St. John's said it was a smooth landing, despite the mechanical troubles.

He said the passengers were told they would be landing unexpectedly at Fredericton — "just that they arrived at a problem in one of the engines with low oil pressure and they were going to land in New Brunswick."

Butt said everyone on the plane was calm during the landing.

Most of them called family as soon as they were safe on the ground.

Butt said passengers have been told the airline is looking into whether the same plane can be fixed and continue the trip or if another will be brought in.

"I got to get on something — I have got to get to work," said Butt, who was heading to a job in Fort McMurray, Alta.