Actually, the passengers of Japan Airlines flight JL331 wanted to fly from Tokyo-Haneda to Fukuoka on February 19, 2023. However, nothing came of it, because after a flight of more than eight hours we landed back at the airport of departure.

The Airbus A350 was scheduled to arrive in Fukuoka at 20:30 p.m. But bad weather meant that the start was initially delayed by two hours. The long-haul plane took off at 20:18 p.m. local time. Now it was getting tight, because you can only land at the destination airport until 22:00 p.m. So it happened as it had to: At 21:58 p.m. the pilots were informed that they were no longer allowed to land in Fukuoka and that the plane would be diverted to another airport.

At around 22:56 p.m., the Airbus A350 landed at Kansai Airport near Osaka. There the crew was exchanged and the aircraft was refueled. However, the passengers were not taken overland to Fukuoka, around 45 kilometers away, and instead had to wait for further information.

It was then decided to fly back to Haneda Airport. At 1:55 am, the A350 departed Osaka Airport and landed in Tokyo at 2:44 am local time. The passengers have thus reached Haneda Airport again after a journey of more than eight hours. Hotel and meal vouchers were then issued there. According to Japan Airlines, the travelers were rebooked on other Fukuoka connections on February 20, 2023. Incidentally, the carrier was not able to answer conclusively why the passengers were not brought from Osaka to Fukuoka overland.