An Australian man has been arrested by Singapore police after a budget Scoot airline flight was escorted back to the city-state’s Changi Airport because of a bomb threat.

The 30-year-old man was arrested for criminal intimidation and police investigations are ongoing, CNA reported on Thursday.

Singapore’s air force and emergency services were activated to escort the Perth-bound Scoot flight back to Singapore, the budget airline said.

A “precautionary” decision was made to turn back the flight about an hour into the journey “due to a bomb threat”, Scoot said in an emailed statement, without providing details of the threat.

“Earlier this evening, two of our F-15SG fighter aircraft were activated to escort a Scoot flight, TR16, back to Singapore Changi Airport due to a suspected bomb threat onboard the aircraft,” it said.

Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post that two F-15SG fighter planes were scrambled to escort the plane back to Changi Airport.

The flight landed in Singapore at 6.27pm local time, where security checks were carried out, the low-cost arm of Singapore Airlines Group said.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said one runway was closed for about an hour “to facilitate ground operations”. Eight incoming flights and six departures were delayed due to the incident.

“Scoot is assisting the authorities with their investigations. As this is a security matter, we regret that we are unable to provide further details,” a representative said, according to local media.

Fighter jets were also scrambled last September to escort a Singapore Airlines flight after a passenger made a similar threat.

-AAP