A man repeatedly punched a female air hostess in the face and had to be cable-tied to the seat by passengers on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Melbourne overnight.

A witness told Radio 3AW the man chased after a female attendant and punched her in the face several times after he was told he could not lie over several seats.

'He would have had the strength of 10 men,' said Matt Naylor, a passenger on board the flight, EK404.

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A man repeatedly punched an air hostess in the face and had to be tied down by passengers on an Emirates flight to Melbourne

A witness told Radio 3AW the man chased after a female attendant and punched her in the face several times after he was told he could not lie over several seats (stock picture)

Mr Naylor told the station he and several other passengers helped subdue the man.

'He was right near the emergency door sort of exit there,' he said.

'I was worried he going to do something silly.

'We had all our weight on him. I had both my knees leaning on his legs to stop him from moving'.

After being bound to his seat, for the next five to six hours of the flight the man screamed, cried, yelled and head-butting the seat.

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'I noticed he tried to at one stage head-butt the flight attendants who were offering him water'.

Mr Naylor said the passenger was 'struggling to communicate' and was 'very irritated, very, very worked up - quite unpleasant'.

The incident was 'very well handled' by crew, Mr Naylor said. The man was not arrested due to his personal circumstances

The irate passenger was accompanied by a 'lovely little boy' who was saying goodbye to people as they alighted the plane.

The incident was 'very well handled' by crew, Mr Naylor said.

An Emirates spokeswoman said the Federal Police assessed the man.

He was allowed the passenger to meet his connecting flight to Auckland with 'no issues' reported, she said.