Bali-bound flight forced to land back in Perth after flames seen coming from engine

An AirAsia flight bound for Bali was forced to turn around and land back in Australia after flames were seen coming from the plane’s engine.

Flight QZ545 departed Perth Airport at 6.30pm on Sunday and was headed for Denpasar in Bali.

It instead circled several times over the Indian Ocean and once over Rottnest Island, before landing back in Perth just one hour after take-off.

A Perth Airport spokesperson said the plane took off with an engine issue, so was forced to turn around.

“Flames were seen coming up from the plane’s engine, and also a series of loud popping sounds were reportedly coming from that engine,” the spokesperson said.

“The aircraft needed to circle multiple times before landing in Perth to burn off fuel, because a plane can’t land under the weight of a full fuel tank.”

Emergency services rushed to the AirAsia flight once it safely landed at Perth Airport. Source: WA Incident Alerts

One passenger claimed they saw bursts of flames from their window seat.

“At first we thought it was lightning, but we were on the exit row so we had the full advantage,” the passenger told 9News.

“You can see (it) just going bang, and you can see the sort of explosion and the flames.”

Passengers were rescheduled onto two separate flights departing at 3.30am and 6.30am on Monday, according to a Perth Airport spokesman.

AirAsia has been contacted for comment.

Bali currently takes the top spot for Australia’s favourite destination.

About 1.74 million Australians visited Indonesia in the past 12 months, accounting for 14 per cent of all trips outside of the country, according to the 2024-25 Australian Bureau of Statistics report.