'I texted my family to say goodbye'

Passengers of the Air Asia flight forced to turn back after a technical issue have told 9NEWS the ordeal was "terrifying" and they thought they were going to die.

The flight from Perth to Bali was forced to turn back after a technical issue caused the cabin to lose pressure yesterday morning.

Flight QZ535 into Denpasar returned to Perth Airport just 25 minutes into its flight.

Oxygen masks fell from the cabin and passengers were told by the crew to get into the brace position.

“I actually picked up my phone and sent a text message to my family, just hoping that they would get it,” Perth woman Leah said.

“We were all pretty much saying goodbye to each other. It was really upsetting.”

She said the cabin crew were panicking but passengers were left in the dark.

“One of the stewardesses started running down the aisle and we thought, why is she running,” Leah said.

“And then the masks fell down and everybody started panicking.

“Nobody told us what was going on.”

Perth mother Tracy was on the flight with her young son, Jayden.

“My son said he didn’t want to get on another flight but I’ve assured him it can’t happen twice in a row,” she said.

“It’s really put me off flying, I fly every year on Air Asia.”

The aircraft landed safely and the 145 passengers on board will be put on later flights.

In a statement, Air Asia said its engineers at Perth Airport were assessing the aircraft.

“The safety of our guests is our utmost priority,” the statement said.

“AirAsia Indonesia apologises for any inconvenience caused.”