The airline issued the statement to the BBC on Friday, after the couple told Australia’s Channel Nine that they were traumatised by the experience on the Melbourne to Doha flight.

Qatar Airways had apologised in a previous statement for “any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused”.

The incident sparked debate over procedures on dealing with deaths aboard planes.

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin, who were travelling to Venice for a holiday, said the cabin crew had placed the dead woman, covered in blankets, next to Mr Ring for the last four hours of a 14-hour flight.

The cabin crew had trouble moving her body through the aisle to the business class section because “she was quite a large lady”, Mr Ring said.

They then asked Mr Ring to move over and placed the lady in the seat he was in.

While Ms Colin was invited by another passenger to sit beside her across the aisle, Mr Ring said the plane’s staff did not offer to move him elsewhere even though there were vacant seats around.

Qatar Airways said on Friday that the crew’s handling of the woman’s death was “in line with training and industry standard practice”.

“Passengers were accommodated to other seats, and a crew member was sitting at all times with the deceased passenger for the duration of the flight until landing in Doha,” its statement said.

“It is an unfortunate reality that unexpected deaths do sometimes occur on board aircraft across the aviation industry and our crew are highly trained to deal with these situations with as much respect and dignity as possible.”

The airline also said that they have offered support and compensation to the family of the deceased and other passengers who were “directly affected” by the incident.

“We totally understand that we can’t hold the airline responsible for the poor lady’s death, but surely after that there has to be a protocol to look after the customers on board,” Ms Colin said in the televised interview with Channel 9.

When the plane landed, Mr Ring said passengers were asked to stay put while medical staff and police came on board. Ambulance officers then started pulling blankets off the woman and he saw her face, he said.

“I can’t believe they told us to stay,” he said, adding that he thought they would have let the passengers leave before medical staff arrived.

Barry Eustance, a former Virgin Atlantic captain, earlier told the BBC that in his experience “the crew would normally try to isolate the body, so there is no passenger exposure to the body and vice versa, for respect and privacy but also for medical reasons”.

According to the guidelines by the International Air Transport Association on dealing with deaths on board a flight, the deceased person should be moved to a seat, preferably one with few other passengers nearby, and covered with a blanket or body bag up to the neck. The body could also be moved to another area that does not obstruct an aisle or exit.

Upon landing, the association recommends that other passengers disembark before the body is attended to by local authorities.

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin, who were travelling to Venice for a dream holiday, told Australia’s Channel 9 a woman had died in the aisle beside them during the flight from Melbourne to Doha.

The couple say cabin crew placed her corpse, covered in blankets, next to Mr Ring for the remaining four hours of the flight without offering to move him, despite there being empty seats.

Qatar Airways said it apologised for “any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused”, adding that it was in the process of contacting passengers.

The couple said they had not been contacted or offered support by Qatar Airways or Qantas, the airline through which they booked the flight.

They said there should be a protocol to ensure passengers onboard were looked after in such situations.

Mr Ring told Channel Nine’s Current Affair programme that staff had responded “in no time” when the woman collapsed, but that “unfortunately the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heart-breaking to watch”.

He said the cabin crew had tried to move her body towards business class “but she was quite a large lady and they couldn’t get her through the aisle”.

Mr Ring said the crew had seen seats were available beside him.

“They said, ‘Can you move over please?’ and I just said, ‘Yes no problem’.

“Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in.”

While Ms Colin was able to move to an empty seat nearby, Mr Ring said he had not been given the option to do so by cabin crew – even though there were vacant seats.

When the plane landed four hours later, he said passengers were asked to stay put while medical staff and police came on board.

He said ambulance officers had then started pulling blankets off the woman and he had seen her face.

The couple said there needed to be a “duty of care” for customers and staff.

“We should be contacted to make sure, do you need some support, do you need some counselling?”

Ms Colin called the experience “traumatic” and said: “We totally understand that we can’t hold the airline responsible for the poor lady’s death, but there has to be a protocol to look after the customers on board.”

In a statement, Qatar Airways said: “First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight.

“We apologise for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused, and are in the process of contacting passengers in line with our policies and procedures.”

A Qantas spokesperson said: “The process for handling incidents onboard an aircraft like this is managed by the operating airline, which in this case is Qatar Airways.”

Barry Eustance, a former Virgin Atlantic captain, said deaths in the air “occur more frequently than people would think” but said as a far as he was aware there was no specific protocol in place for such situations.

“On a long haul flight it tends to depend largely on when it occurs and where it occurs and what the crew have in terms of facilities to place the body somewhere because on an aeroplane, there’s no access to the hold, there’s a crew rest area but that’s for the crew so it can be problematical.”

A toilet area or galley area could be blocked off, he said, but the crew are required to keep a certain number of toilets available.

Mr Eustance said that, while he was not being judgemental as he did not know the full situation, he was surprised that the crew did not move Mr Ring if there had been spare seats.

“I would expect the crew would do all they could to avoid that. You are creating potential future liabilities in terms of the trauma of the people next to whom the body was placed,” he said.

“In my experience the crew would normally try to isolate the body, so there is no passenger exposure to the body and vice versa, for respect and privacy but also for medical reasons. You have a dead body that is uncontained and all that goes with it.”