A Ryanair flight was forced to return to Malta when the aircraft reported a possible tail strike while departing from the island on Thursday afternoon.

A Malta International Airport spokesperson confirmed that the aircraft landed at 5.15pm with the captain deciding to return as a "precautionary measure".

A tail strike occurs when the back end of an aircraft comes into contact with the ground or another object. 

A Boeing 737-8200 MAX under registration 9H-VVH, the Ryanair flight departed at 3.35pm for Riga, Latvia following an hour and a half delay.

The flight’s crew contacted Air Traffic Control informing them that they will be unable to continue on their journey and were returning back to Malta so the aircraft can be inspected, according to Horizon.mt, an aviation news site based in Malta. 

After turning back, the flight circled south of the island as the plane burned fuel in order to reduce its landing weight.

Horizon also reported that on Thursday morning, the same aircraft had another incident while flying from Milan to Malta when it was diverted to Rome due to a medical emergency.