Mid-air incident: Passenger arrested after flight forced to return to Sydney
The airline said the flight had to return due to a "disruptive passenger onboard"
Sydney: Australian authorities arrested a man on Monday after a flight he was on bound for Kuala Lumpur was forced to return to Sydney just two hours after its departure.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH122 left Sydney at 1:40 pm local time, but turned around while over northwestern New South Wales and landed back in Sydney at 3:47 pm.
In a statement shared with Australian media, the airline said the flight had to return due to a "disruptive passenger onboard".
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said a man, 45, had been arrested without incident and the other passengers had been evacuated from the aircraft.
"There is no impending threat to the community," they added.
"The man is expected to be charged later tonight.
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"The AFP will not divulge operational matters, however, an emergency response plan was enacted and an evacuation was initiated once it was deemed safe for passengers and crew."
Sydney Airport said that as a result of the incident, 32 domestic flights were cancelled - 16 inbound and 16 outbound - with delays of up to 90 minutes for other domestic flights.
There were no international flights cancelled.