A grassfire has broken out at Sydney Airport as witness reports suggest it was sparked by Qantas flight QF520 which may have suffered a contained engine explosion.

A spokesperson for Qantas says the aircraft bound for Brisbane suffered a confirmed engine failure and investigations will take place to figure out what caused the incident.

Nine News producer Georgina Lewis who was on the reported aircraft says they had struggled to gain altitude and were forced to return to the airport.

“We were going down the runway when we heard a loud bang … about 10 minutes later the pilot came on board and said they had a problem with the right-hand engine on take-off and they were forced to shut it down for safety reasons,” she told Michael McLaren.

Fire Rescue New South Wales Superintendent Adam Dewberry told 2GB Afternoons no injuries have been reported.

‘It is pretty well-contained on that peninsula on that runway so we’re working to put that out with the Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting,” he said.

Listen to all of the highlights from Afternoons with Michael McLaren here: