This is the shocking moment passengers savagely assaulted each other on board a plane in China before being led shame-faced off the aircraft by police.

The fight broke out because a female passenger allegedly wouldn't stop complaining about their delayed flight.

When another passenger reportedly tried to intervene, the argument turned into a chaotic scuffle.

Hainan Airlines flight HU7737 was originally scheduled to depart from Beijing Airport at 9:50 p.m. and land in Xi'an at 11:55 p.m. local time on Saturday.

The boarding was delayed until 12:30 a.m. on Sunday according to one of the passengers on the flight who goes by the name of JianKe0823 on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter.

Local media has not reported the cause of the original delay.

A female passenger on board started swearing at the crew about the delay according to Chinese news site Sina, which later caused an argument with a male passenger.

More passengers then joined in the argument, which eventually escalated into a physical fight according to the report.

Footage captured by Weibo users Kal-EI24 and doo-voo, who were both on board the flight, showed a woman getting elbowed in the face by a man wearing a white t-shirt.

She then picked up a bag from the floor and then started to hit him over the head.

The camera then panned towards the front of the plane where more passengers were seen fighting each other.

A second clip from after the fight showed two police officers the aircraft talking to passengers.

Several people were later led off the plane as their fellow passengers looked on.

User doo-voo wrote on Weibo: "They were fighting to 30 minutes. The crew didn't intervene."

Her sentiments were also shared by Kal-EI24 who similar comments saying that 'no one in charge' was 'dealing with the situation'.

Five people were later escorted off the flight by local police according to Sina, and several people had minor injuries as a result of the brawl.

The plane eventually took off shortly before 3:00 a.m. on Sunday and landed at its final destination at 4:40 a.m.

Hainan Airline crew is said to have apologised to passengers on board after the incident.

Police are currently investigating the incident.

MailOnline Travel has contacted Hainan Airlines for comment.