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A 45-year-old man has been charged after a Malaysia Airlines flight was forced to turn back to Sydney when he allegedly made bomb threats to people on board.

The Canberra man faces one count each of making a false statement about a threat to damage an aircraft and failing to comply with the cabin crew's safety instructions.

Australian Federal Police said the man became disruptive on the flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur and claimed to have explosives on board.

The offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

He is expected to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday.

The mid-air drama took place after flight MH122 left Sydney Airport bound for the Malaysian capital on Monday afternoon.

The pilot decided to turn the plane around while it was over north-west NSW after the passenger allegedly began yelling, making references to Islam and gesturing at a backpack worn on his chest.

The plane returned to Sydney about 3.45pm before a tense, three-hour standoff on the tarmac ended when the man was arrested.

Passenger Edo Kahn said the situation on board escalated after the plane took off and the man began praying "really loudly".

"People thought maybe he was just scared of flying initially, but then it just sort of got worse as things progressed and the whole situation with him not letting go of his bag," he told Sydney radio 2GB.

Velutha Parambath, who was travelling with his young family, told Nine's Today program the man began saying "Allahu akbar" and pointing to a bag next to him as the plane started taking off.

Others on board the flight said the man yelled at flight attendants, made threats and knelt in the aisle of the aircraft.

The 194 passengers and five crew were evacuated from the A330 aircraft and taken to the terminal.

But some criticised the AFP for the time it took officers to board the plane and arrest the man after the flight returned to Sydney.

"They could have disembarked us, they could have done something," Mr Parambath said.

"We were just isolated at the end of the runway and that was the scariest of all.

"If the plane actually had a bomb, I don't think we would be here today."

The AFP said officers acted once it was safe to do so.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said police faced a "really difficult set of circumstances", but it was appropriate the response to the incident was subject to a review.

"A lot of these things are easy to look back with in hindsight," he said.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb praised the work of the flight crew, adding the three-hour response time for officers to enter the plane and arrest the man was "pretty good".

"We can never presume anything and you don't know whether this person was acting alone or he actually had other support on the plane or outside the plane," she said.

"The protocol in Australia is to negotiate, we don't storm planes, this is not TV, it's not the movies - we want to protect the lives of all passengers."

© AAP 2023

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says wages growth is progressing better than forecast, as inflation eases.

Australians are set to learn whether wages have grown in real terms over the past quarter - something that has not happened for three years.

The wage price index, to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday, is expected to increase by 0.9 per cent in the June quarter.

The rise could be as high as 1.1 per cent.

This compares to the consumer price index - a measure of the cost of living - which grew by 0.8 per cent in the June quarter.

The May federal budget forecast real wages growth on an annual basis to return by early 2024.

"That's come forward a bit, we're actually progressing a bit better than we thought six or 12 months ago when it comes to wages growth in our economy," Dr Chalmers told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

"We're doing that at the same time as inflation is moderating in the economy."

He said the source of inflation was not people earning too much.

"Inflation is coming at us from all kinds of other directions," he said.

NAB economists said they didn't think the wages figure would be enough to shift the thinking in the Reserve Bank away from a pause in rates to a future hike.

But they are forecasting a third quarter wage price index close to 1.5 per cent, taking in the aged care worker pay rise and other turn-of-financial-year adjustments.

Meanwhile, Dr Chalmers said he would be kickstarting a conversation about the bigger picture for the economy with the release of the Intergenerational Report next week.

"We need a new approach to boosting productivity in our economy," he said.

"From our point of view - the energy transformation, skilling people up to adapt and adopt technology, making particularly our care economy more productive - these are our priorities."

The report to be released on August 24 will look at the forces shaping the Australian economy over the next four decades.

© AAP 2023

A 45-year-old man has been charged after a Malaysia Airlines flight was forced to turn back to Sydney when he allegedy made bomb threats.

The Canberra man faces one count each of making a false statement about a threat to damage a Division 3 aircraft and failing to comply with cabin crew's safety instructions.

"During the flight, a male passenger allegedly became disruptive and claimed to have explosives on board," Ausralian Federal Police said in a statement on Tuesday.

The offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and a $15,000 fine.

He is expected to appear in Downing Centre Local Court later on Tuesday.

The drama began when flight MH122 left Sydney International Airport for Kuala Lumpur just after 1pm on Monday.

It returned at 3.47pm after the man allegedly began yelling, making references to Islam and gesturing at a backpack worn on his chest.

"The commander of the flight made a decision to return to Sydney," Malaysia Airlines told AAP in a statement.

Once on the tarmac, a tense three-hour standoff began before the man was arrested by police.

Passenger Edo Kahn described the moment before the situation on board escalated.

"As the flight was taking off he started praying really loudly," he told Sydney radio 2GB on Tuesday.

"People thought maybe he was just scared of flying initially but then it just sort of got worse as things progressed and the whole situation with him not letting go of his bag."

Another man travelling with his young family said the man began saying "Allah Akbar".

"As the plane started taking off, he started saying 'Allah Akbar Allah Akbar'," he told Nine's Today show.

Other passengers posted their experiences on social media, alleging the man had been yelling at flight attendants and passengers and kneeling in the aisle of the aircraft.

The 194 passengers and five crew were evacuated from the A330 aircraft and taken to the terminal.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the flight crew did a great job de-escalating the situation.

She also responded to questions from passengers who wanted to know why it took three hours for officers to enter the plane and arrest the man.

"I think three hours is pretty good," she told 2GB on Tuesday.

"We can never presume anything and we you don't know whether this person was acting alone or he actually had other support on the plane or outside the plane so you can't presume anything.

"In Australia ... we don't storm planes," she added while acknowledging it would have been terrifying for the passengers.

The Australian Federal Police, which helped coordinated the operation on the tarmac, said it acted once it was safe to do so.

© AAP 2023