A plane with 170 passengers onboard was forced to make an emergency landing at Ottawa airport soon after takeoff early Friday morning when smoke appeared in the plane.

Sunwing flight No. 326 was en route to Varadero, Cuba. The Boeing 737-800 left the Ottawa airport at 6:32 a.m., according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

Paramedics got the initial call at about 6:40 a.m. ET. The plane landed at the airport at about 6:53 a.m.

Two minutes later, firefighters said, the smoke had dissipated. Crews on the scene were checking the brakes on the plane, according to a media release.

An Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport Authority spokeswoman said all passengers were able to get safely off the plane.

There was no fire in the cockpit, the spokeswoman said. No one was injured.

Odourless smoke filled cabin

The flight's passengers were still at the airport waiting for a possible second flight to Cuba.

They told the CBC's Stu Mills that thick, white, odourless smoke filled the cabin of the plane.

People started yelling "Fire!" and a flight attendant announced over the PA system that the aircraft would be making an emergency landing.

About 10 minutes after takeoff, the passengers said, the plane was returning to the airport.

One passenger, Jamie Page, said he'd never felt an aircraft brake so forcefully before, and that it seemed as though the pilot wanted to get the plane back to the ground fast.