About 196 passengers and crew travelling on the China Southern Airlines flight CZ680 from Istanbul to Beijing via Xinjiang provincial capital Urumqi had a harrowing time as the plane made a forced landing at the Zhongchuan Airport in Lanzhou, in China's Gansu province, hours after it took off from Urumqi.
The identity of the man was not yet revealed but he confessed his surname, Wang, the name synonymous with Han Chinese, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Most of the suspects in previous such attempts were from Uygur community.
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has seen violent clashes between native Muslim Uygurs of the province who have been agitating against the settlements of the Hans.
The latest incident comes less than two months after bombing threats grounded two airplanes in China.
In late August, an Air China flight bound for New York returned to Beijing Capital International Airport after it received a threatening message. The plane headed for New York after no dangerous items were found on the plane.
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In the same week, a Shenzhen Airlines domestic flight returned after receiving a bomb threat. Police in central China detained a man who confessed that he fabricated the bomb hoax to stop a creditor aboard the flight from collecting his debt.
Police said they are investigating Wang's motives of making up the threat.