Photo/Illutration Aircraft flown by Japan Airlines Co. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The transport ministry ordered Japan Airlines Co. to clean up its act after a drinking episode involving a pilot and his co-pilot that was uncovered after an international flight.

The ministry issued a business improvement recommendation, a form of administrative guidance, to the company on Dec. 27.

According to the ministry and the company, the captain and his co-pilot began drinking at a restaurant on the day before an international flight from Australia to Japan and ended up consuming three times the company’s legal limit.

It emerged they then later conspired to pretend that their alcohol intake was within the legal limit.

The two men were scheduled to operate Flight JL774 from Melbourne to Narita Airport on the morning of Dec. 1.

During an early morning self-diagnosis test at the hotel, the captain found he was under the influence of alcohol but failed to report the matter to the company, and delayed leaving the hotel, citing “poor health.”

The co-pilot was also found to be under the influence of alcohol during voluntary tests at the hotel and the airport, but failed to inform the company he had been drinking.

As a result, the flight departed 3 hours and 11 minutes behind schedule.

After the flight, when interviewed by the company, the pair initially concealed the fact they had consumed more than the prescribed amount of alcohol.

But on Dec. 3, they admitted to boozing it up on the day before the flight, the company said Dec. 10.

JAL’s internal regulations stipulate that flight crews must not drink alcohol 12 hours before a flight and that the amount consumed beforehand be within 40 grams, equivalent to half a bottle of wine.

According to the company, the two ordered one glass of sparkling wine each and three bottles of wine at a restaurant in Melbourne between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on the day before the flight.

If they had drunk all of the wine, it would have been equivalent to an alcohol reading of about six times the company’s limit, JAL said.

The ministry issued business improvement orders against JAL twice in 2018 and 2019 due to issues involving pilots drinking alcohol.

Separately, the co-pilot in the latest case violated JAL’s alcohol stipulation in 2018.

In April of this year, a male captain was so drunk at a hotel in the United States that the police were called, resulting in the cancellation of a flight.

The ministry handed JAL a severe warning over the incident.

Since yet another incident has occurred, the ministry decided to issue administrative guidance, pointing out that JAL’s measures to prevent a recurrence after the previous severe warning “did not function adequately.”

In a statement, JAL said, “We take the loss of customer trust extremely seriously and will do our utmost to prevent it happening again.”

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