Virgin flight diverted back to Perth over 'engineering issue'

A Virgin passenger flight in Western Australia was forced to turn around because of a mid-air "engineering issue".

The Boeing 737 800 aircraft left Perth airport yesterday afternoon bound for Port Hedland when it was forced to return.

Flight VA145 was later seen circling over Perth's northern suburbs as it burned fuel before the diversionary landing.

The aircraft was scheduled to land at Port Hedland about 5.30pm but instead arrived at Perth Airport about the same time.

The flight turnaround over WA comes as Boeing faces investigations over an incident in January when a door plug blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight.