Passengers rejoiced as the man and his friend were escorted off the United Airlines flight. Picture: Supplied

Footage of the incident, which took place before takeoff, shows the cabin cheering as the man and his travelling companion were removed from Saturday’s United Airlines flight from Chicago to Houston.

The incident was believed to have started when a Pakistani man and a woman, wearing traditional clothing, boarded the plane.

As the couple put their bags in the overhead locker, a male passenger allegedly said: “That’s not a bomb in your bag, is it?”.

A witness who spoke to Texas broadcaster KHOU said the couple did not appear to have hear the man’s comment, so he repeated it.

A woman sitting nearby alerted the flight crew, which set off a series of complaints from other passengers about the man’s remarks.

The passenger who spoke to KHOU said the man then turned his attention to her and her boyfriend, who she said was of Indian descent.

“The person ahead us turned around and asked where my boyfriend was from; my boyfriend said it’s none of your business,” she said.

“At that point he said all illegals and all foreigners and need to leave the country.”

Flight attendants then told the man to leave the plane.

Other passengers cheered as the man and the woman with him left, the Washington Post reported.

One passenger yelled out: “Get out of here! Racists aren’t welcome in America! This is not Trump’s America!”

She then added: “Goodbye racists!”.

A spokesman for United Airlines told FoxNews.com the man and his female companion were removed for “inappropriate language” and “making others feel unsafe.”

“We wanted to make sure [our passengers] feel as if they’re flying in a safe environment,” the spokesman said.