Overview

• MLIT delivered formal stern administrative guidance to Japan Airlines, saying safety awareness was not thoroughly embedded across the workforce.
• The move follows an Aug. 28 case in Honolulu where a captain drank three beers, tested positive for alcohol, and caused delays of up to about 18½ hours across three flights.
• JAL President Mitsuko Tottori apologized at a press conference, acknowledging the seriousness of the lapse.
• The captain has been dismissed, and Tottori said she plans to discipline executives, citing accountability for oversight failures.
• JAL is tightening screening and monitoring, including using health and liver-function data to restrict duty, removing four pilots from service, and considering alcohol-test image submissions and mandatory specialist consultations.