The incident occurred on flight JQ33, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which left the Thai city of Phuket early on Wednesday and arrived in Sydney in the afternoon.

Scott Haywood, a passenger on the flight, told Sydney radio station 2GB the dispute began when one passenger "fully reclined" her seat and a passenger behind her took offence.

"One of the passengers was distressed as another lady put her seat back on his mother," Mr Haywood said.

"It was a night flight, so it was two or three o'clock in the morning. This other passenger got out of his seat and whacked that woman's seat who did that to his mother three or four times."

Mr Haywood said the 27-year-old man then returned to his seat, but the 42-year-old woman was "less than impressed" so she followed him and "laid a punch on him".

"He then got up and laid a couple more on her," Mr Haywood said.

Mr Haywood said he and another passenger jumped up to hold the man back before the "terrific" staff intervened and moved both parties from business class to different parts of the plane.

A spokesman for Jetstar confirmed the incident and said cabin crew contacted Australian Federal Police (AFP), who met the flight when it landed in Sydney at around 2pm.

"Our crew onboard acted quickly and the customers were separated for the remainder of the flight," the spokesman said.

"We don't tolerate disruptive behaviour by passengers on our flights. We will conduct a review with a view to banning these passengers travelling with us in the future.

"We appreciate customers' acknowledgement of the professionalism of our crew."

The AFP confirmed it responded to a request for assistance from an airline at Sydney Airport on Wednesday.

"A 27-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman were escorted from a flight arriving from Phuket," a spokesperson said.

"Investigations remain ongoing and as such, it would not be appropriate to comment further."