A Sunwing Airlines flight to Cuba had to be escorted back to Toronto, Canada, as a precaution after disruptive behaviour by two passengers.

Sunwing Flight 656 had to be diverted halfway through its journey after two passengers consumed a significant quantity of the airline’s duty-free alcohol and lit a cigarette in the toilet, which triggered the plane’s smoke detector. Later, they also got into a physical altercation.

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The airline said that due to disturbance on board, the plane had to be diverted back to Toronto’s Pearson Airport, where the two passengers were handed over to local authorities.

"The bomb disposal unit conducted a thorough search of the aircraft and the passengers’ luggage and later gave clearance that the aircraft is safe."

Passengers were provided with free meal coupons following the incident.

In a similar but unrelated incident, passengers boarding a Malindo Air Flight OD1158 to Penang, Malaysia, were left waiting on the tarmac for approximately four hours after an agitated passenger uttered the word ‘bomb’.

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The First Post newspaper reported that a passenger got tired of waiting in a queue for his boarding pass to be checked and said: "Why need to check? I have no bomb."

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Following this, the airline evacuated all 37 passengers, took it to an evacuation spot and carried out a thorough bomb search.

Malindo public relations and communications director Raja Sa’adi Raja Amrin said, "The bomb disposal unit conducted a thorough search of the aircraft and the passengers’ luggage and later gave clearance that the aircraft is safe."

The passengers, including an infant, were provided with meals and transferred to another flight.