A Qantas jet has suffered another Rolls-Royce engine malfunction shortly after take-off from a regional airport in Western Australia.

Passengers on the plane, a twin-engined, 115-seat Boeing 717, have told local media of hearing a loud bang after take-off from Newman airport as the jet was climbing to its cruising altitude en route to Perth on Tuesday afternoon.

The pilots of QF1825 received an "adverse engine indication" alert in the cockpit, and initiated their action checklist. They shut down the right-hand engine about 15 minutes into the flight.

A Qantas spokeswoman said as far she had been briefed on the incident, the pilots did not declare a "pan-pan" emergency landing - the call to air traffic controllers for a lower level of emergency than a "mayday" - but did make an in-flight announcement to passengers that the plane would have to turn back.

The plane circled and returned to land safely at Newman airport about 40 minutes after take-off, she said.

The plane has been taken out of service, and remains on the ground as engineers investigate the malfunction.

The 75 passengers on board were put on a replacement flight and arrived in Perth about three hours later than originally expected.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is not investigating the incident.