Qantas flight grounded after bedbug outbreak

"We sincerely apologise to customers for the cancellation of Saturday's Rome to Perth service, which allowed our engineers and maintenance teams to carry out a deep clean of the aircraft after an issue was identified on a small number of economy seats," the spokesperson said.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner had to be grounded for "a deep clean", a Qantas spokesperson told the BBC.

During the previous flight on Friday - a nearly 17-hour journey from Perth to Rome - some passengers had complained that they were being bitten by bugs, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.