Etihad flight to London escorted in by fighters

The aircraft was diverted after the crew had reported a drunken passenger had claimed he had a bomb on board and sparked the terror alert

An Essex police spokeswoman said: "A 37-year-old man, a British national, has been arrested following an incident on board an Etihad Airways plane travelling from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow. The pilot reported a passenger causing disruption and making threats.

"The plane was diverted to Stansted airport were it landed just before midday. No one has been injured and the airport has been operating normally."

A spokeswoman for Etihad said flight EY19 had been diverted to "offload a disruptive guest". She added: "He had been making inappropriate comments. The safety of the plane was never in danger."

Two RAF Typhoons equipped with air-to-air missiles were scrambled after the alert was sounded by the crew.

The captain of the Etihad Airbus A330 told passengers shortly before midday that he was diverting from Heathrow as a precaution. At Stansted, police boarded the aircraft and removed a 37-year-old man who was sitting at the rear.

  According to ness agency Reuters, one of their photographers was on board the aircraft and had been sitting two rows behind the ejected passenger and witnessed the man leaving without a struggle when police arrived.

"The plane's captain came on the tannoy and said a direct verbal threat to the airline had been made," photograper Paul Childs told Reuters. "A member of the cabin crew said he had made a bomb threat. The man had come to one of the empty seats at the back of the plane during the flight. The first I knew something was happening was when the police came on board."