A Ryanair flight was forced to return to Dublin airport on Thursday after the plane's tail hit the runway as it took off for London, the airline and airport officials said.

In the latest incident to hit the budget carrier, oxygen masks came down from above passengers' seats, before the plane landed safely with none of the crew or 148 passengers injured.

"It (the plane) took off and it incurred a tail strike and it came back and landed. It landed safely subsequently," the spokesperson said.

She said that an air accident investigation unit from Ireland's transport ministry was looking into the incident.

A passenger on the flight told RTE state radio there had been a loud bang when the aircraft took off which he described as being similar to the noise of a plane's landing gear hitting a runway when it is landing.

He said people were scared. "It was not a nice experience."

Ryanair confirmed the incident in a statement. "The protective tailskid of the aircraft operating flight FR208 from Dublin to Stansted, touched the runway during take-off at 11.40am this morning," it said.

"As a precautionary measure the aircraft returned with oxygen masks deployed and landed safely in Dublin. All 148 passengers disembarked normally, were given refreshments and will be re-accommodated in the next two flights to London Stansted," it added.

The low-cost airline's planes have been involved in two other incidents recently.

Passengers on a flight from Bristol in England to Barcelona on August 25 said they feared they "were going to die" when the plane plunged 8000 metres after a sudden loss of cabin pressure over France.

Four days later, a Ryanair jet made an emergency landing in Rome after an indicator light signalled a problem with the aircraft's landing gear.

AFP