A WOMAN was arrested yesterday after telling Newcastle Airport check-in staff she had a bomb in her luggage.

The 48-year-old passenger had arrived late for an easyJet flight to Paris, and became aggressive when she was told she could not catch the plane.

The airline said the woman, who comes from South Tyneside, told staff she had a bomb in her luggage five times after she missed her 1.55pm flight.

Last night, she was helping police with their inquiries.

The incident was recorded by a documentary team from the television company LWT making a fly-on-the-wall film about easyJet.

An airline spokeswoman said footage was not being released as it might be needed in evidence.

The airline said two women approached the check-in desk to catch the 1.55pm EZY 6725 flight to Charles de Gaulle.

The carrier has a policy of asking passengers to arrive at least 40 minutes before take-off, and they were told they had missed their flight. They were sent to the sales desk to arrange another flight today.

The spokeswoman said: "LWT were filming at the time for the Airline documentary and one of the ladies became rather angry and stated that she had a bomb in her bag.

"Security was called and she was asked to repeat what she had said. She said it five times."

Police were called and the woman was taken away for questioning.

The easyJet spokeswoman said the passenger, who has not been named, would now be banned from the airline.

"We have a zero tolerance policy for anybody who does not respect the safety and security regulations," she said.

She thought the other female passenger had left after the incident. The comment was "particularly stupid" as it followed the high-profile case of 21-year-old Samantha Marson, who was arrested in Miami after she joked she was carrying explosives.

An airport spokeswoman said: "We will not tolerate such behaviour from any passengers."