A man who allegedly opened the emergency exit door of a plane on the tarmac of a local airport in China was detained for 15 days, local media reported.

The man, identified only by his surname Chen, was on flight 8L9720 on board Lucky Air from Sanya city, on China's Hainan island, The Beijing News reported.

The plane had arrived at the Mianyang Nanjiao Airport in Sichuan province's Mianyang city on April 27.

While waiting to disembark, Mr Chen reportedly felt that the plane was "stuffy" and opened the emergency exit door, causing the escape slide to be deployed.

The slide was damaged in the process, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

Mr Chen was detained for 15 days by the airport authorities.

The airport said in a statement on Sina Weibo that the airline was looking into the amount of damages the man must pay.

It reminded passengers that the unauthorised opening of a plane's emergency exit doors is illegal.

It quoted a section of the country's airline safety act, which stipulated that deliberate damage to facilities is punishable by detainment of 10 to 15 days and a fine.