UPDATE: A MALE passenger had to be cable-tied after he punched a female flight attendant in the face multiple times on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Melbourne.

Matt Naylor was on flight EK406 last night and said that the man, who was travelling with a young boy, wanted more space to lie down and became agitated when he didn’t get it.

“He was struggling to communicate and there was a bit of a disagreement and then one of the flight attendants essentially walked off,” Mr Naylor told 3AW.

“He went after her and I decided to go and see what it was all about.”

Mr Naylor said he saw the “aftermath” of the passenger assaulting the woman.

“And then a male flight attendant, another gentleman and myself sort of jumped on the man and pushed him to the ground.”

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Mr Naylor said they were handed cable ties which were used around the passenger’s hands and feet.

“They managed to get him back to his seat where they got an extended seatbelt and put that around him.”

Mr Naylor said the flight attendant told him that she was punched in the face “a few times”.

“She was quite shaken up by it,” he said.

Mr Naylor said the passenger continued to be agitated after he was cable-tied.

“He did at one stage ... try to headbutt two of the flight attendants trying to offer him water. So he was very irritated, very worked up, crying, yelling, it was quite unpleasant.”

Mr Naylor said he didn’t think the passenger was drunk.

The man wasn’t arrested due to personal circumstances.

An Emirates spokesperson said: “On Emirates flight EK406 arriving from Dubai into Melbourne this morning, there was an incident with a passenger that resulted in the passenger being restrained.

“The Federal Police were called and met the plane on arrival to assess the situation. After this assessment it was agreed that the passenger would meet their connecting flight onto Auckland and did so with no issues. The health and safety of our crew and passengers is of paramount importance.

“The cabin crew member involved was not injured and did not need to seek medical treatment.”