JAL Flight Diverted to Kitakyushu Airport after Missing Fukuoka Airport’s Curfew
A Japan Airlines Co. (JAL) flight originally bound for Fukuoka from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport was forced to switch planes and destination to Kitakyushu Airport after it emerged that it would not make the deadline for Fukuoka Airport due to engine trouble before its scheduled takeoff on June 11.
As the flight was certain to miss the 10 p.m. curfew at Fukuoka Airport in southwest Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture due to a departure delay, it was redirected to Kitakyushu Airport, also in Fukuoka Prefecture. Fukuoka Airport, which is located near residential areas, does not permit takeoffs and landings before 7 a.m. and after 10 p.m. in principle due to noise control measures. This is apparently the first time that a JAL flight was diverted to Kitakyushu Airport because of Fukuoka Airport’s curfew.
According to JAL, the diverted Flight 331 was originally carrying 280 passengers. It was scheduled to depart from Haneda at 6:45 p.m., but just before takeoff, engine trouble was confirmed with the aircraft, and it returned to the terminal to switch planes. The destination was then altered to Kitakyushu Airport, where takeoffs and landings are possible around the clock, and the flight departed at 9:41 p.m., about three hours late, with passengers who agreed to the change on board. Originally, the flight was scheduled to arrive at Fukuoka at 8:35 p.m., but it instead arrived at Kitakyushu at 11:18 p.m.
The airline reportedly arranged hotels in the city of Kitakyushu for passengers who could not go home, and also prepared five buses to take other passengers who wished to go to the city of Fukuoka.
A member of a married couple in their 60s who were returning home in Fukuoka’s Higashi Ward said, “We waited for about three hours at Haneda before finally getting on a plane, but the flight did not promptly depart, and the destination was changed. We had plans for the next morning, so we were glad to be able to return to Kyushu anyway.”
A 41-year-old doctor who took a bus arranged by the airliner arrived in Fukuoka’s Tenjin district just before 1 a.m. on June 12. He looked relieved, saying, “I have to work from Monday morning, so I wouldn’t have made it if I had taken the first flight the following morning.” He added, “I hope they will continue this kind of operation in the future.”
In February, there was a case in which a JAL airplane failed to land at Fukuoka Airport by 10 p.m. and had to return to Haneda Airport before dawn the following day. In response, the Fukuoka Prefectural Government, the Kitakyushu Municipal Government, airline companies and other related parties had since considered accepting diverted planes at Kitakyushu Airport.
