- Kyodo News via AP
Japan – Japan Airlines (JAL) on Thursday revealed it expected losses of more than US$100 million after one of its planes was destroyed when it collided with another aircraft on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport this week.
All 379 people on board the JAL Airbus 1350 widebody jet escaped before the plane was completely engulfed in flames that took more than six hours to extinguish.
But five of the six crew of the other aircraft – a smaller coast guard plane that had been on its way to deliver aid to quake-hit regions on Japan's west coast – were killed, with the surviving pilot badly injured.
Kecelakaan Pesawat Japan Airlines di Bandara Haneda Tokyo Jepang
- Kyodo News via AP
As investigators combed the charred wreckage on Thursday, transport authorities are probing the circumstances that led to the coast guard plane entering the runway where the passenger jet was landing.
Police are also looking into possible professional negligence in the case, according to media reports.
Transcripts released by authorities show air traffic control ordering the coast guard plane to proceed to a holding point near the runway minutes before the crash, instructions the pilot appeared to have read back in acknowledgement.
Japanese authorities said on Wednesday the passenger jet had been given permission to land, but the smaller plane had not been cleared for take-off, based on the transcripts.
The coast guard pilot said after the crash that he had been given permission to enter the runway, coast guard officials have said.
Authorities have only just begun their investigations and aviation experts say it usually takes the failure of multiple safety guardrails for an airplane accident to happen.
A notice to pilots in force before the accident suggested that a strip of stop lights embedded in the tarmac as an extra safety measure to prevent wrong turns, was out of service, according to a copy of the bulletin posted by US regulators.
Haneda was the world's third-busiest airport in 2023, according to UK-based travel industry data provider.
