Japan Airlines Airbus A350 Diverts Twice And Returns To Tokyo
The Airbus A350 just barely missed the curfew at Fukuoka Airport and diverted to Osaka before returning to Tokyo Haneda in the middle of the night.
A recent Japan Airlines flight bound for Fukuoka was diverted twice after missing the airport’s curfew by just minutes. The flight in question, JL133, was delayed in departing Tokyo’s Haneda Airport due to bad weather on Febuary 19th. Initially scheduled for a departure of 18:30, the flight could not take off until 20:18 local time.
The Airbus A350-900 (registered JA07XJ) proceeded to head toward the southern city with a scheduled flight time of just under two hours. Upon nearing Fukuoka Airport (FUK), it became apparent that the flight would not arrive before the airport’s 22:00 curfew. The airport is the fourth-busiest in Japan and is surrounded by residential areas, resulting in 22:00 – 07:00 noise restrictions. Flights arriving during the curfew must have written pre-authorization.
According to flight tracking data, the flight descended to an altitude of 9,850 feet as it approached Fukuoka. It neared the city less than 10 minutes after the curfew went into effect, and pilots could not obtain clearance to land at the airport, forcing a diversion. The aircraft then continued and rerouted to Kansai International Airport (KIX), some 45km south of the city of Osaka.
What happened next?
Kansai is one of two airports serving Osaka and is built on an artificial island designed specifically for the purpose and is one of Japan Airline’s largest airports outside of the Tokyo area. The aircraft touched down just under an hour later at 22:56 local time, two hours and 45 minutes after departing Toyko Haneda.
Upon landing in Kansai, the aircraft was refueled and underwent maintenance checks. The flight crew reportedly had reached the end of their allowed time in the air and were replaced by new staff. The airline then decided to return the aircraft and passengers back to their origin at Tokyo Haneda airport, a further hour north and without nighttime curfew requirements.
The Airbus departed from Osaka’s Kansai International Airport at 01:55 on February 20th, bound for Toyko. The passengers arrived back at their departure location of Toyko Haneda forty-nine minutes later at 02:44, over eight hours after their originally scheduled departure.
Two additional flights to Fukuoka on the evening of February 19th also departed well after schedule but were allowed to land after the curfew. The airline might have expected flight JL133 to make up for the delay and land on time and, therefore, not filed the required paperwork for an exception.
According to local news, the airline looked after the 335 passengers aboard the plane upon their return to Tokyo. Japan Airlines arranged a hotel, and the passengers were reportedly issued compensation valued at 20,000 JPY ($150). Passengers originally bound for Fukuoka were offered alternative flights, and the airline arranged a special one-off flight to transport passengers to the destination. The replacement flight departed Haneda at 10:20 on February 20th and successfully arrived in Fukuoka around lunchtime.
Monday’s regularly scheduled flight, JL133, departed Tokyo less than an hour behind schedule and arrived in the southern city well before curfew at 21:09.
Source: One Mile At A Time, The Asahi Shimbun
