PETALING JAYA: A Malaysia Airlines (MAS) crewmember has been detained in France for questioning after allegations of "inappropriate sexual behaviour" against a passenger.

In a statement, MAS confirmed that a passenger travelling on flight MH20 from Kuala Lumpur to Paris on Aug 4 had made allegations of "inappropriate sexual behaviour by a member of the cabin crew".

"The member of staff in question has been detained for questioning by the French police," it said on Thursday.

"Malaysia Airlines expects and accepts nothing short of the highest standards of conduct from its crew and takes such allegations very seriously.

"We will naturally assist the French authorities as they conduct their investigation and would stress that the safety, comfort and well-being of our passengers are always our highest priority," said MAS.

This follows a report by French news portal FranceTVInfo that a MAS crewmember was being investigated for allegedly "sexually assaulting" an Australian passenger.

The incident supposedly happened when the passenger expressed nervousness about flying following the disappearance of flight MH370 in March and the downing of flight MH17 in July.

The report stated that the crewmember sat next to the passenger under the pretext of comforting her, before "sexually assaulting" her.

AFP reported that the passenger lodged a report with the French border police upon her arrival in Paris and the crew member was detained on Aug 7.

MH370 disappeared off radar screens on March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The plane and 239 people on board have yet to be found, but search efforts are still ongoing.

On July 17, MH17 was shot down after flying over a conflict zone in eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board perished.