Illustration: Japan Airlines. (Image via The Jakarta Post)

US DOT fines JAL for 2018 delays

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Foods & Service
Sep 14, 2019
1994
Department of Transportation (DOT) of the United States released a consent on Thursday (12/9) regarding a US$300,000 fine for Japan Airlines (JAL) regarding the 2018 flight delays which occurred in January and May.

According to an agreement between JAL and DOT, JAL had compensated US$60,000 for the passengers. DOT agreed to waive US$120,000 on a one-year probation for JAL to avoid any flight delay.

The incident on 4 January 2018 saw a delay due to the winter storm hit New York, causing JFK Airport to close. The JL004 flight from Tokyo to New York was transferred to Chicago; however, it faced tarmac delay as the flight had to wait for the staff to deplane for more than four hours. The four-hour delay to deplane was seen as a violation.

The incident reoccurred four months later on 15 May 2018 with the same flight. Due to a thunderstorm, JL004 landed on Dulles Airport to refuel while waiting for the weather to fly. However, after four hours of delay, the JAL’s crew timed out, leaving the passengers to wait for almost an hour to deplane.

For the delay, JAL denied it abandoned or ignored its passengers’ safety and comfort. The Japanese airline blamed the weather for the flight congestion.

To prevent a similar thing to occur for the next flight, JAL stated that they had added a procedure for all flight to deplane before the four-hour limit in circumstances out of JAL’s control.

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/us-dot-fines-jal-300000-for-excessive-tarmac-delay-460871/

Business , Aviation , U.S , Japan , JAL