Passengers on an AirAsia X flight have been left airsick after their aircraft made a diversion to Melbourne, according to a report by Australian news portal 9news.com.au .

In addition, passengers reportedly complained that authorities have denied them permission to leave the aircraft despite repeated requests, even as the temperature in the aircraft cabin raised.

“Everyone's vomiting, everyone's sick…

“We've been here for a little over an hour now... they switched the plane off, it was so hot in here. No air-con, nothing,” a passenger named Amanda was quoted telling 2GB radio .

The passengers supposedly waited in the aircraft as it sat under the hot sun on the tarmac for three hours while engineers attempt to fix the problem.

Amanda also reportedly told the radio station that the aircraft aborted its first attempt to land at Melbourne airport and circled around for a second attempt, and encountered turbulence as it was doing so.

Earlier today, reports emerged that the flight XAX223 had made an emergency landing in Melbourne following a malfunction of its navigation system and map display.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported an hour ago that the flight XAX223 had landed as a precautionary measure following the technical issues. This was confirmed by the Australian Civil Aviation and Safety Authority.

The aircraft took off at 12.20pm local time (9.20am Malaysian time) bound for Kuala Lumpur after a flight of about eight hours.

Instead, the aircraft landed safely at Melbourne about 2pm local time (11am Malaysian time), and took off again for Kuala Lumpur at 5.13pm (2.13pm Malaysian time) after the glitches were fixed.

The ABC report added that the aircraft is believed to have landed in Melbourne instead of returning to Sydney because the weather in Melbourne is more favourable.

No emergency

AirAsia X in a statement denied that there was an emergency landing.

“We would also like to clarify that it was a precautionary diversion and not an emergency landing, as per unverified published media reports ," it said.

AirAsia X is part of the AirAsia Group. On Dec 28, one of its aircraft, Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 from Surabaya to Singapore, crashed in the Java Sea and killed all 162 on board.