An irate passenger severely injured a ground staff of Spring Airlines at boarding gate in an attack at Kunming Changshui International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

The budget carrier confirmed the incident in a statement that its employee, surnamed Tao, was brutally attacked by an unruly passenger, surnamed Fan when she was told her luggage was oversized.

The female passenger, surnamed Fan, was due to board flight flight 9C8938 heading for Shijiazhuang with two family members on Tuesday afternoon. The male airline employee noticed that she was carrying three large suitcases and told her she should have checked them in.

The airline's employee explained that the family should pay excess fees because their bags were over the free weight limit and did not buy any baggage allowance.

Following continuous agreement and abuse, Fan got angry and attacked Tao with a cup she was carrying, causing the employee's forehead to bleed. 

Airport police officers rushed to the scene and arrested Fan for investigation.

Spring Airlines said it is investigating the incident of physical assault against its ground staff and is providing its support to the assaulted employee.

The Shanghai-based carrier added, it condemned any violent behavior and would take all necessary actions to protect its staff.

Similar incident occurred at Sydney airport in 2014, when two men from San Francisco were told by budget airline Scoot that one of their bags was over the free weight limit.

But instead of protesting, the travellers opened their bags and put on as many of their clothes as possible in a bid to escape financial penalty.