Passengers on board a holiday jet flying from Spain to Birmingham have told how it was shadowed by a French fighter plane for up to 15 minutes.

Low-cost carrier Jet2 said it was awaiting confirmation from French aviation officials as to why flight LS1204 was apparently tracked by the French air force on Friday afternoon.

Passenger Sarah Hatfield, who was travelling back to the UK from Malaga with husband Ian and their 13-year-old daughter Emily, said: “Someone spotted the French jet and told the cabin crew, who I presume told the Jet2 pilots.

“The air stewardess then announced there was nothing to worry about.

“Ian was terrified and it didn’t help that loads of other passengers came by us to look out at it.”

Mrs Hatfield, from Quarry Bank, near Dudley, said of the fighter jet: “It was so close I could read the writing on its tail fin.”

The bank worker, whose daughter took several photos of the French warplane, added: “The feeling on board was a mixture of excitement at seeing the fighter so close up and terror as to if we were about to get shot down.”

A spokesperson for Jet2 said: “We are awaiting clarification from the French air traffic authorities, as to why a military aircraft was apparently tracking our aircraft”.