Watch: 'How dare you!' - Passenger frustrated with delay manhandled and slammed to ground by airline staff

An airline has been forced to apologise to a passenger who was manhandled and body slammed to ground by its staff at New Delhi airport.

Rajeev Katiyal reportedly became frustrated by a lengthy delay in getting to the terminal on a bus after his IndiGo Airlines flight had landed on October 15.

Phone video shows him arguing with ground staff before one of them grabs him around the waist and manhandles him away from the bus.

He's then slammed onto the ground and held down but repeatedly pleads to be let go.

"How dare you. how dare you!" he says.

Yesterday the airline apologised to the passenger. But the incident is now being investigated by the airline and government, and the staff involved have been suspended in the meantime.

"Whatever may have been the provocation, whether verbal or physical abuse, we could have tried to display more restraint," IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh said in a letter to India's Civil Aviation minister today.

However he also said the actions of his employees were taken to ensure the passenger's safety.