2-hour Japan Airlines flight turns into 16-hour journey, after plane misses landing time by 10 minutes

It was meant to be a two-hour domestic flight for 335 passengers on a Japan Airlines (JAL) plane. 

But their journey from Tokyo's Haneda International Airport became a 16-hour ordeal, after the plane was turned away by Fukuoka International Airport for missing its landing time by 10 minutes.

Tokyo and Fukuoka are located on the opposite sides of the country and about 885km apart.

On Feb 19, flight JL 331 was scheduled to leave at 6.30pm local time from Tokyo and land at its destination at 8.30pm on the same day. The plane took off at 8.18pm, according to Flightradar24.

However, some news reports such as BBC and Bloomberg said the plane was delayed for 90 minutes due to a plane switch.

Local paper Asahi Shimbun reported that JAL is investigating why the take-off was delayed.

The plane was minutes away from landing at Fukuoka International Airport when it was turned away for a missing the airport's 10pm cut-off time.

Planes are prohibited from landing at the airport after 10pm due to noise concerns for residents living in the area, reported Ashai Shimbun that quoted officials of Fukuoka International Airport.

On that morning, strong winds at Haneda International Airport resulted in other flights being delayed. Flight data also showed that other flights were allowed to land past the cut-off time, said the BBC.

JL 331 was the only flight that was rejected at Fukuoka International Airport, Bloomberg reported.

Planes might be allowed to land after 10pm when delay was unavoidable, such as bad weather or congestion on airport runaways, said the officials.

However, the officials did not regard JL331's flight delay as "unavoidable", reported Ashai Shimbun.

The BBC reported that the plane had to circle in the air until it found an airport to allow it to land.

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The flight initially attempted to land at an airport in Kitakyushu, a city close to Fukuoka. However, the aircraft was not allowed to do so, as there were no buses to ferry the passengers to a hotel.

The plane then had to fly back to Haneda International Airport.

Around 11pm that day, the plane made a stop at Kansai Airport to refuel the aircraft for the en route journey, according to Ashai Shimbun. After undergoing maintenance work, the plane left the airport around 1.45am on Feb 20.

Passengers were unable to disembark from the plane as hotels could not be arranged for them, said the BBC.

The plane landed at Haneda International Airport at 2.50am.

The passengers later stayed at a hotel arranged by the airlines after landing at Tokyo.

They later departed for Fukuoka International Airport from Tokyo at 10.20am on Feb 20.

South China Morning Post reported that the airline said it paid for the passengers' hotel accommodation and taxi fares.

On Twitter, a passenger said he was given a boarding pass replacement, received 20,000 yen (S$197) cash and water during the hotel's stay.

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"I'm glad it wasn't a plane crash," said the passenger in Japanese.

In a statement, the airlines told British media The Independent: "We apologise for the inconvenience and burden caused by not being able to take passengers to Fukuoka as scheduled and the long flight time."

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.