A man has been arrested by armed police on a Qatar Airways plane at Manchester Airport after military jets were scrambled to escort it following a hoax bomb threat on board, police said.

A Royal Air Force Typhoon escorted flight QR23, an Airbus A330-300 carrying 269 passengers and 13 crew from Doha to Manchester, after the pilot was alerted to a possible device on board.

Flights in and out of the airport were suspended as the aircraft landed safely shortly after 1pm. A man on the plane was arrested on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat.

Qatar Airways said: "The crew had received a threat about a possible device on board and Qatar Airways immediately took all the necessary precautions to alert British authorities. The crew is now fully assisting police at the airport with their inquiries."

An RAF spokesman said: "We can confirm that Typhoon aircraft were launched from RAF Coningsby in their quick reaction alert role this afternoon to investigate a civilian aircraft whose pilot had requested assistance.

"The aircraft was escorted to Manchester where it landed safely. This incident is now being handled by the civilian authorities."

A passenger, Matthew Qox, told the BBC: "Armed police came on and found a guy, searched him and made him stand up with his hands on his head and took him off the plane. He seemed no different to others on the plane, nothing unusual."

Qox said he found out about the incident through Twitter.

"I was asleep and had no idea that we were being followed by an RAF Typhoon.

"We stopped at the end of the runway and I found out what was going on by looking at Twitter. I wish we could have been kept in the loop. At least it's all a hoax, it could have been a lot worse."

He added: "I'm a bit worried, nervous about the whole thing. I don't feel too worried now I'm off the plane, it's calmed me down I suppose."

Another passenger, Josh Hartley, who videoed the military escort from on board, told the BBC that passengers had not been told what was going on.

The first they knew about the incident was when they saw a jet flying alongside them.

"When the escort came it was pretty scary. I'm pretty shook up now," he said.

The cabin crew had given no information about what was happening. "I found out what was happening on Twitter," he said. "At first we were circling around the airport for around 10 minutes, then the fighter jet came up for about eight to 10 minutes. Then we came in for landing."

He said the mood on board was "pretty calm all the way through" but that "some people are shaken up. I'm a bit shaken up".

Manchester airport was briefly closed, but had now reopened.