Passengers on an AirAsia X flight say they saw sparks coming from an engine after a suspected bird strike led to their plane being grounded in Brisbane last night, but experts are sceptical birds caused the emergency landing.

The incident occurred shortly after the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight took off from the Gold Coast about 10:20pm, with the plane flying for another hour before landing safely in Brisbane.

The plane switched course to Brisbane an hour after take-off. ( Supplied: Airport Webcams )

"Two bird remains were found on the runway," the airline said in a statement.

Eric Lim, a passenger who posted images and video of the plane on social media, said the right engine was struck.

"Successive sparks 'boom, boom, boom' went off," Mr Lim posted on Facebook.

"Some people were crying and calling out 'oh my God, oh my God'."

Others onboard the Airbus, which was carrying 345 passengers and 14 cabin crew, provided similar accounts on social media.

Passengers said they saw flames coming out of one engine shortly after the AirAsia X plane left Gold Coast airport ( ABC News: Elizabeth Pickering )

Calvin Boon, 22, said he saw flames coming from the plane.

"The whole engine blown and flame [sic] went through it all like Resident Evil man really, Resident Evil," he said.

Mr Boon, who was returning to Malaysia with teammates who had competed in the Gold Coast Marathon, said he noticed something unusual before the plane even took off.

"When it tried to take off, the engine rattled a lot. It rattled more than usual ... maybe it was just my sixth sense, you just know something is going to happen," he said.

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Another passenger posted a video on Facebook expressing thanks to the pilots for landing safely.

"A very good job for AirAsia's captain, it was very crazy, one engine gone."

Air Asia X chief executive Benyamin Ismail said the airline would arrange a charter flight and passengers would fly to Malaysia after 6:00pm.

ChooHooi Lim, Mr Boon, Sam Boon, Jack Tan, Jin Kwang Ow Yong (from LtR) were on their way home after competing in a marathon. ( ABC News: Melanie Vujkovic )

"We would like to commend our pilot and crew members for their professionalism and swift action to reassure passengers who were on board flight D7207 and to land the aircraft safely in Brisbane airport," he said.

It comes less than a fortnight after an AirAsia X plane shook like a "washing machine" when it experienced engine problems and was forced to turn back to Perth.

Explanation questioned

Strategic Aviation Solutions chairman Neil Hansford, who consults with commercial airlines and airports, said the explanation from AirAsia X was suspicious, especially when Gold Coast Airport spent large amounts of money to keep birds away from the air strip.

The AirAsia plane was still grounded at the Brisbane Airport on Tuesday morning after the emergency landing. ( ABC News: Elizabeth Pickering )

He said when a plane engine was certified, it had frozen chickens thrown at it to ensure it was able to cope.

"If I look at the engine here, there's blades missing, which I find a little suspicious, and I also find suspicious the fact that the airline is saying that they've found carcasses on the runway," he said.

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"AirAsia would have had no access to the runway. That would have been something determined by Gold Coast Airports.

"I don't know how a spokesperson from AirAsia in Kuala Lumpur would know there were two birds because the airport wouldn't be rushing to tell anybody what the situation is.

"The maintenance of a bird-free environment on airport land is the responsibility of the airport."

Mr Hansford said only large sea birds could have caused that extent of damage, and he doubted they would have been flying over the airport at that time of night.

"There's a difference between bending a blade and detaching a blade, which is exactly the situation that Air Asia had coming out of Perth within the last week," he said.

"The links aren't complete for me. I hope this is not a smoke screen."

But Phil Shaw from Avisure, the company contracted to keep birds away from Gold Coast Airport, said remnants of a bird had been found on the runway.

"There [are] remnants found on the runway, from the evidence so far it would suggest it is very likely to be a bird strike of some sort."

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it was investigating the Air Asia X plane's engine failure.