A long-necked turtle was involved in a near miss with a passenger plane on the southern Gold Coast on Jun. 25.

The pilot was landing at Coolangatta Airport and noticed the animal, nicknamed "Lucky", on the tarmac.

Airport operations manager Glen Mansfield says the pilot reported the incident and the turtle was returned to a nearby creek.

"They can't swerve once they're committed to land - they come in for landing in a straight line," he said.

"They can't swerve ... to miss anything - it's just pure luck that he actually missed him and it was more good luck than management."

Mr Mansfield says it is not uncommon for turtles to appear at the airport.

"Over the years we've had half-a-dozen turtles - some of them get hit and a lot of them survive," he said.

"That is why we nicknamed this one Lucky - he survived and got missed all together."