A Dutch pilot was reportedly forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger's refusal to stop farting sparked a mid-air fight.

Transavia Airlines flight HV6902 was headed to Amsterdam from Dubai when the pilot brought the plane down in Vienna, telling authorities the passengers were on a rampage, Mirror.co.uk reports.

The source of the anger was an elderly man who was noisily passing wind and refused to stop when disturbed passengers asked him to.

Even the pilot became involved and asked the man to restrain himself but he refused.

A fight then broke out, forcing the pilot to land the plane and have the assailants removed from the plane.

Four people who were seated near the man were escorted from the plane in Austria.

One of the removed passengers, 25-year-old Nora Lachhab told De Telegraaf the crew didn't do much to ease the situation.

"It was crazy that we were included, we had no idea who these boys were, we just had the bad luck to be in the same row and we didn't do anything," she said.

"All I will say is that the crew were really provocative and stirred things up."

All four were given lifetime bans from Transavia Airlines and the airline is investigating whether they can be charged the cost of the unexpected stopover.

It's not clear if the farting man faced any disciplinary action.

Newshub.