Photo/Illutration An aerial view of Fukuoka Airport (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Passengers were inconvenienced again as their flight on June 11 was too late to make the final 10 p.m. landing time at Fukuoka Airport and landed instead at Kita-Kyushu Airport, about 70 kilometers away.

They either had to take a bus to Fukuoka or stay overnight at a hotel near Kita-Kyushu Airport.

On the evening of June 11, engine trouble delayed the departure of Japan Airlines Co.’s Flight 331 from Tokyo's Haneda Airport bound for Fukuoka Airport.

Fukuoka Airport has set a strict curfew out of consideration to local residents complaining of aircraft noise, meaning it only allows planes to land there until 10 p.m.

Because of the curfew, three airplanes bound for Fukuoka Airport have been forced to return to Haneda Airport since the beginning of this year.

Due to these incidents, JAL had made arrangements to divert their late flights to Kita-Kyushu Airport, which allows planes to land there 24 hours a day.

The June 11 incident was the first in which JAL diverted a flight to Kita-Kyushu Airport since it made the diversion arrangement.

According to JAL, at around 6:45 p.m. on June 11, when Flight 331 with 354 passengers aboard was about to take off from Haneda Airport, the company found a problem with the plane’s engine that required mechanics to fix.

The company changed planes, but it knew that the delayed departure meant the flight would not arrive at Fukuoka Airport by 10 p.m.

So, before the flight took off with another plane, JAL announced that the destination had been changed to Kita-Kyushu Airport.

As a result, 281 passengers boarded the plane.

The plane left Haneda Airport at 9:41 p.m. and arrived at Kita-Kyushu Airport at 11:18 p.m.

JAL provided busses for the passengers to go to Fukuoka.

The company also secured hotel rooms near Kita-Kyushu Airport, which nine passengers utilized.

Fukuoka Airport is situated close to densely populated areas, lying about two kilometers from Hakata Station, the major station in Fukuoka.

Residents of the hosting communities have taken their complaints about airport noise to court.

The Supreme Court in 1994 ordered the central government to pay damages.

Planes are allowed to land on, and take off from, Fukuoka Airport’s runway only between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.

The airport does not, in principle, allow late-arriving planes to land without prior approval if the delay was caused by “reasons ascribable to the airline,” which don’t include bad weather.

On Feb. 19, JAL 331 left Haneda Airport one and a half hours later than the scheduled departure time because changing the plane and loading luggage aboard took time.

The flight arrived near Fukuoka Airport just before 10 p.m., but it couldn’t touch down as the runway was busy with other arriving planes.

The clock struck 10 p.m. as the plane was still circling in nearby skies while waiting for permission to land.

The plane then chose to return to Haneda Airport because JAL had not made arrangements at Kita-Kyushu Airport for servicing a plane and arranging for accommodations and chauffeur services for its passengers.

It stopped at Kansai Airport, in Osaka Prefecture, to refuel and arrived back at Haneda at 2:50 a.m.

After this incident, the Kita-Kyushu city government and other parties held discussions on arranging for Kita-Kyushu Airport to accept diverted planes.

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