She said there were no flight delays but airport staff were working to move buses and taxis to a different roadway to avoid an exclusion zone for passengers leaving the airport.

A maxi taxi on fire at Brisbane Airport. Credit:Kylie Collins

Footage from the scene showed firefighters blasting the flaming taxi with high pressure hoses to put the fire out. A blackened shell was all that was left.

Isaac Irvin had stepped off a flight from Sydney and was walking towards the cab rank when he noticed smoke coming from the car's engine.

"In about a minute after that it had caught alight," he said.