A British man holding a nine-month-old baby has been punched in the face by a staff member at Nice Airport in France after complaining over a 14-hour delay.

The unnamed victim was due to travel on EasyJet flight 2122 from Nice to Luton airport outside London on Saturday.

Witness Arabella Arkwright captured the blow in a picture circulated online after the men confronted each other.

“It was completely unprovoked,” said Mrs Arkwright, who was returning from holiday with her husband and children.

https://twitter.com/ArabellaArkwri1/status/891407362678018054

“This guy literally smirked, smiled as if, excuse my French, basically ‘f*** you,’ and then whack. It was a proper whacking,” she said.

Mrs Arkwright told CNN her husband restrained the attacker while they waited for police to arrive.

The passenger was taken away, infant in arms, but was later let back on the flight in time for its eventual takeoff. Arkwright said he had a mark from the punch on his face.

A spokesman for British budget carrier EasyJet said it believed the attacker in the photograph worked for Nice Airport’s special assistance provider Samsic.

 “We had a serious problem with someone of staff from our subcontractor Samsic,” Jean-François Guitard, a director at Nice airport told CNN.

EasyJet apologised for the delay to flight EZY2122 from Nice to London Luton because of a “technical issue with the aircraft”.

A spokesman for the airline said: “EasyJet is very concerned to see this picture and can confirm the person in the photo is not an easyJet member of staff and they do not work for easyJet’s ground handling agents in Nice.”

– With AAP