Senior executives for Japan Airlines are to receive reduced salaries as a consequence of two pilots being involved in a drinking incident in December 2024.
A report by local media outlet Nippon.com named President Mitsuko Tottori and Chairperson Yuji Akasaka as two executives who will receive a 30% pay cut for two months.
Three other executives from the airline’s flight operations and safety management divisions have also been given disciplinary actions.
“There was a wrong decision on an important point involving directors. We are deeply sorry,” Tottori told local reporters. Tottori also said that the company will remove Akasaka from the post of safety controller.
On December 1, 2024, flight JL 774 was scheduled to fly out from Melbourne Airport (MEL) to Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT), when two pilots tested above the alcohol limit, resulting in the flight being delayed for over three hours.
According to a report by The Independent, Japan Airlines has internal guidelines that prohibit drinking within 12 hours of boarding. In 2018, the carrier introduced a new breathalyser system at airports abroad to test its pilots.
Tottori, who began her career in Japan Airlines as a flight attendant, became the carrier’s Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Japan Airlines in April 2024, becoming the first woman to lead the company.
A report by The Japan Times says that this is not the first time that Japan Airlines top executives bore the consequences of a pilot’s failed alcohol breathalyzer tests. In 2018, some managers took pay cuts of up to 20% for a three-month period after a pilot showed up for a flight from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Tokyo with excessive alcohol in his system. The pilot was subsequently jailed. One of the top managers involved at the time was Akasaka.
