An Italian man has been arrested after he delayed his flight by calling in a bomb scare because he was running late.

The unidentified 46-year-old man still managed to miss the Alitalia flight from Turin to Rome on Thursday evening despite keeping the plane on the tarmac for two and a half hours.

The flight was only minutes from take-off when the warning came through and was promptly grounded, Italian newspaper La Stampa reported.

"I heard two Arabs say that they had put a bomb on board," the businessman is reported to have told the emergency services.

After the passengers had been evacuated, the luggage search, and the threat established as a fake, it eventually left Turin and arrived in Rome two and half hour behind schedule.

Despite his best efforts, the man – who was reportedly in Palermo on business – still missed his plane as police officers immediately arrested him when he arrived at the airport.