A man sparked an airline terror alert after telling Aer Lingus cabin crew a passenger on board the flight was armed with knives.

The man made the claim in a note passed on to terrified staff on board the Saturday evening Dublin to Edinburgh flight.

The Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Edinburgh was delayed after a man passed a note to staff claiming a passenger on board was armed with knives. File image used

Passenger Peter Munro tweeted that the man was dragged from the flight during the wait on the tarmac

Passengers were shocked when anti-terror police, dressed in SWAT-style armoured uniforms, soon stormed the plane and detained the man.

Peter Munro wrote on Twitter: 'So a Garda SWAT team just pulled a guy off our Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Edinburgh.

'He was sat right behind me. Fun times...'

Sources later told the Irish Mirror the incident on Saturday night was triggered by the note, though it was later deemed not to be a terror threat.

A spokesperson for the Dublin Garda told MailOnline: 'A male passenger aged in his 20s was removed from the plane by Gardai and detained under the Mental Health Act, he has since been admitted to hospital.

'The flight proceeded to on its planned journey a short time later. There was no one injured during the incident.'