Japan’s transport ministry issued a warning to Japan Airlines over numerous delayed flights due to drinking pilots. This recent case in Honolulu comes just nine months after a similar incident in December in Melbourne, where two drinking pilots caused delays.
Airline executives apologized during a press conference on Wednesday.
“We take this situation seriously, especially since we had already been given a business improvement order last December and had been in the process of implementing countermeasures,” said Japan Airlines President Mitsuko Tottori.
Japan Airlines banned its pilots from drinking during overseas stays after the Melbourne incident last year, but Tottori stated that the recent events from late August proved it to be insufficient.
The airline will look to revise further its alcohol policies, including identifying those who are “high risk” under stricter criteria and relieving them of pilot duties. JAL revealed that four additional pilots now fall under the “high risk” category and have been dismissed from flight duties for now.
The transport ministry has requested Japan Airlines to submit a detailed report of its new alcohol policy by the end of this month.
Related: Drinking Japan Airlines Pilot Tampered With Testing Kit to Avoid Alcohol Detection
The following three flights were delayed in the most recent incident in Honolulu:
- (28 August 2025) JL793: Honolulu 14:20 departure, Nagoya 17:30 arrival (+1)
- (28 August 2025) JL71: Honolulu 16:25 departure, Haneda 19:45 arrival (+1)
- (29 August 2025) JL71: Honolulu 16:25 departure, Haneda 19:45 arrival (+1)
Flight JL793 was delayed 2 hours, while Flight JL71 on both days was delayed over 18 hours.
Featured image by the author.
