An Italian man is facing a possible prison sentence or hefty fine after he allegedly called in a bomb threat so he wouldn’t miss his flight.

The 46-year-old passenger was running late for his flight from Turin to Rome, so he called a local police station and claimed there was a bomb on board the Alitalia plane, said police.

He succeeded in his attempt to delay the flight, but he was arrested by police when he arrived at Turin Airport.

The Alitalia plane was moments away from take-off when the bomb threat was made to a local police station

According to a report by Italian newspaper La Stampa, the man called police and claimed he overheard two Arabic-speaking passengers say ‘they had put a bomb on board’.

The plane was moments away from take-off when the threat triggered a state of emergency at the airport on Thursday night.

It was forced to return to the terminal, where all of the passengers and their luggage were removed and searched.

After the threat was determined to be a hoax, the plane took off and arrived in Rome two and a half hours behind schedule.

After a search by police, passengers boarded a second time and arrived in Rome (pictured) two hours late

The man who allegedly called in the threat was travelling to Palermo for work, and was held overnight by police and released the following morning, La Stampa reported.

In addition to facing time in prison and a fine if convicted, the man could be added to Italy’s passenger blacklist.

In May, a 33-year-old man was arrested by French police after calling Bordeaux-Mérignac airport and claiming there was a bomb.