Shocking footage captured the moment two men had an ugly mid-air fistfight on a Southwest Airlines flight to Hawaii.

Passengers could be heard pleading with the men to calm down, before one was manhandled away from the brawl by another flier.

The flight, which departed from Oakland, California, was mid-air over the Pacific Ocean when the scuffle began, but completed its journey and avoided an emergency landing.

Both men were reportedly detained after they landed in Hawaii.

It is unclear what triggered the fight, with the footage beginning with one of the men lightly slapping the other across the face.

The slap was quickly responded to with a frenzy of punches, several landing squarely on the other man’s face.

After delivering a flurry of blows to the first man’s jawline, the infuriated passenger pauses for a moment as others grab his arms and urge him to stop.

While the passengers are gradually separated, one assailant could be heard telling the other to ‘get over here’, before one concerned-looking passenger tells him ‘it’s not worth it.’

‘Take it easy, take it easy,’ another passenger could be heard saying from the back of the jet.

The hostile situation was eventually calmed as a man in a blue hoodie held the man back and ordered him to ‘just stop,’ while moving him to the back of the plane.

Witnesses told Hawaii News Now that the fight erupted around an hour after the flight departed California.

‘I heard yelling, screaming and punches. I turned around and saw one man bleeding and then the other man being separated,’ passenger Jim Wieder told the outlet.

‘Frankly, I was a little nervous because we’re 35,000 feet and you’ve got two guys swinging at each other, which makes no sense whatsoever.’

Despite mid-flight altercations often resulting in emergency landings, the pilot decided to continue on to land in Kauai.

Both men were detained upon arrival, although it is unclear if any charges were brought.

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