The flight was meant to depart from Durban to Johannesburg at 21:55pm on Sunday but the plane was only boarded at 01:00am on Monday.

According to passenger Sanele Gumede, a woman had asked the cabin crew and the captain why the flight was delayed.

Gumede said, shortly after the woman took her seat, police officers arrived and announced that the captain had asked that she be escorted off of the plane.

Other passengers rallied behind her, threatening to disembark.

Gumede said the incident dragged on until the captain announced that the flight would be cancelled.

"While the other passengers disembarked the flight, the woman was approached by three police officers who dragged her off the plane and detained her," said Gumede.

Gumede said they were told to get back on the plane or they would also be detained.

In a statement released on Monday, Kulula said the passenger became unruly after she refused to comply with instructions.

"The captain decided to disembark the aircraft after a customer became unruly and refused to leave the flight after failing to comply with instructions from both the crew and the police. The flight had been delayed because of a weather disruption to an earlier flight. We apologised to customers who were affected by the delay. Our crew have the right to work without being verbally or physically abused."

eNCA