Japan's biggest manufacturer of airline seats has admitted that it falsified seat safety tests.

Koito Industries has sold about 150,000 of the suspect passenger seats to major airlines including Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines and possibly to V Australia.

After a company employee blew the whistle, the president of Koito Industries Limited this week formally apologised at a press conference in Japan.

He said the company and the management were responsible for the falsification of fire resistance data for tens of thousands of plane seats.

Industry expert and aviation editor for West Australian Newspapers, Geoffrey Thomas, says the revelation is extremely disturbing.

"The seats are a critical part of an aircraft," he said.

"It's related to the fabric covering of the seats. There's a possibility that they may not have passed the fire certification standard.

"Of critical importance is the fire retardancy of the fabrics, of the seats, and the internal structure of the seats, the foam.

"[They] all have to meet very rigorous standards, burn-through standards, because one of the major killers in an air crash is smoke."

Mr Thomas says a number of Japan-based carriers are certainly affected.

"It affects Japan Airlines and All Nippon airlines. It also, I understand, affects one or two aircraft being delivered to Singapore Airlines," he said.

But concerns also stretch to Australia, where some planes belonging to the new international arm of Virgin Blue, V Australia, may also be affected.

"One or two of their aircraft [may be affected], but that is still being determined and the actual effect of this has to be worked through with the authorities," Mr Thomas said.

"It is very surprising because normally the Japanese are meticulous with their standards, although this is not the latest problem from Japan.

"We've had Honda and Toyota with massive recalls as well. So it comes at a time when a lot of question marks are being asked about standards.

"Of course Japan Airlines just went into bankruptcy as well, so brand Japan is really taking a hammering at the moment."

A spokesman for the Federal Minister for Transport, Anthony Albanese, says although the safety information for the seats was falsified, it is yet to be determined whether they are unsafe.

He says Japan's safety bureau is currently investigating and if it does issue an air worthiness directive, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority in Australia (CASA) will do the same.

When contacted, Singapore Airlines declined to comment, referring all inquiries to the seat manufacturer.

Virgin Australia was unavailable for comment.