An Australian couple at the end of their European holiday have been caught up in a mid-air drama over the Middle East.

Perth pair Thomas Novak and Yasmin Pavlinovich were three hours into into their Qatar Airways flight from Athens to Doha on Thursday when their worst fears were triggered.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Perth couple’s terrifying mid-air scare over Middle East

“All of a sudden it’s just ‘bang’ ... the plane nose dives down, we take our eye mask off, everyone’s in panic,” Thomas told 7NEWS.

The travellers said there was a person with their lifejacket on, preparing for the plane to go down.

“Everyone’s just on edge,” Thomas said.

“You look out the window, there’s two ships on fire and you’ve just done three nose dives — you’re just like, what has just happened?”

Experts believe the flames in the Persian Gulf were likely from a gas field, but the timing did coincide with ship attacks in the nearby conflict zone.

“It’s highly unlikely that the flight path would have been altered to avoid any kind of missile because that would have been a very violent manoeuvre,” aviation consultant Tim Collins told 7NEWS.

“That wouldn’t be something a passenger aircraft would normally make.”

Collins said that if passengers were asked to put their seatbelts on “it probably was some kind of turbulence” event.

Thomas said that, in the moment, it “did feel real, like we were going to crash”.

Demand from Perth to the Middle East has dropped since the conflict began, with many passengers choosing to go via Asia instead.

There were previously two Perth to Doha services by Qatar Airways every day, but one has been suspended until December.

Seven News has contacted Qatar Airways, which is investigating the incident.