Japan Airlines passengers in Honolulu faced multiple flight delays ranging up to 18 hours long after one of the airline’s pilots was taken off duty for drinking.
The incident began on Thursday, August 28, at Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) when a Japan Airlines pilot who was scheduled to operate a flight to Nagoya, Japan (NGO), called in sick that day for having drank too much the night before.
Pilots have strict limits on how much they can drink in the hours leading up to a flight. The FAA, for instance, doesn’t allow pilots to consume any alcohol within eight hours of flying at a minimum, while Japan Airlines’ rules prohibit pilots’ alcohol use within 12 hours of a flight. The FAA also advises that pilots should not fly with the symptoms of a hangover, as it can still lead to impaired judgement and reflexes.
When the JAL pilot called out of work, it snarled the airline’s operations. All told, three of the airline’s flights from Honolulu were delayed, including two planes to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND) that took off 18 hours behind schedule, as the carrier scrambled to find another pilot to operate the flight to Nagoya. In total, the incident affected about 630 passengers, according to the South China Morning Post.
The carrier has repeatedly struggled with pilots exceeding the alcohol limit in the hours leading up to flights. In another recent incident in December 2024, a Japan Airlines flight from Melbourne to Tokyo was delayed for three hours after the two pilots scheduled to fly the plane had alcohol above the acceptable limit detected in their systems.
Following the most recent incident, officials from Japan’s Transport Ministry conducted a surprise inspection at the airline’s headquarters on September 3, according to the Japan Times.
"We sincerely apologize to our customers and all parties involved for the inconvenience and trouble caused,” the airline said in a statement to the Japan Times. "We take this matter very seriously, especially considering that it occurred while we were already under administrative guidance due to multiple safety incidents, including alcohol-related cases, and were working to prevent recurrence.”
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