Airline Jet2 said the captain had "no option" but divert to Nantes in order to protect passengers and crew from the "increasingly violent" man on Friday.
He was given a lifetime ban from the airline and handed over to local police on arrival in France.
Jet2 said it had launched an investigation into the incident alongside Police Scotland.
The airline said it was also aiming to recover the costs incurred by the diversion between Reus and Glasgow airports.
It managing director, Phil Ward, said: "This passenger's conduct was absolutely unacceptable.
"We apologise to those customers who had to witness such disruptive and abusive behaviour and for the delay to their journey home."
He said the airline has a "zero tolerance" approach to such anti-social behaviour.
"Passengers should be in no doubt that the consequences of being overly aggressive towards fellow customers and our crew will lead to a divert and subsequent fines and prosecutions," he added.
A "disruptive and violent" passenger forced a flight from Spain to Glasgow to be diverted to France.