A terminal at Melbourne Airport was evacuated on Friday night following a threat reportedly made against a Tigerair.

The incident happened about 9pm, and people were removed from Terminal Four, while several planes were grounded.

The area was reportedly declared safe by Victoria Police just after 5am Saturday. No other terminals were affected in the closure.

Meanwhile, Melbourne Airport spokeswoman Anna Gillett told The Age newspaper that the Tigerair flights were cancelled as authorities responded, but would not provide an exact reason for the seven-hour shut down.

Gillett said the airport never released details on security issues.

Tigerair Australia chief executive Rob Sharp in a statement said: "Tigerair takes all security related alerts extremely seriously".

"All necessary steps were taken by the airline to quickly involve the relevant authorities and implement precautionary measures to ensure passenger safety," he said.