An Air China flight was forced to return to Beijing airport for safety concerns yesterday after a brawl by two male passengers, who were detained by police on landing.

The pair began quarrelling soon after takeoff and the conflict turned physical, disrupting the operation of the cabin crew and prompting the captain to turn the flight around for the safety of passengers and crew, police said.

Flight CA1361 was headed for Haikou in China's southern Hainan Province but was diverted back to Beijing about an hour after taking off at 6:30am, the airport authority said.

Police took the pair into custody and the flight took off again at 10:25am, landing safely at Haikou at 1:38pm, three hours behind schedule.

Police did not release details of the two men. But some of those onboard the flight said in online posts that one of the pair was injured and had blood on his face.

The men will be blacklisted according to a new regulation to record uncivilized passenger behavior, said an official with the China Air Traffic Association.

The regulation lists 10 banned activities in the air, he added. The blacklist is circulated to domestic airlines and those named will be suspended from flying for one or two years.