Shimane Prefecture fined JAL 50,000 yen (310 USD) for taking off from Izumo Airport one minute after the airport’s curfew (at 8:31PM) without having received the appropriate permission from the prefecture on April 16, 2024. Weather-related disruptions affected airports around Japan on that day.
The flight that violated Izumo Airport’s curfew was JL286 to Tokyo Haneda operated by a Boeing 767-300ER registered JA656J and carrying 199 passengers including two infants onboard. While the flight was scheduled to depart Izumo at 7:25PM, due to the late arrival of the aircraft, the flight ended up being pushed back at 8:15PM.
After that, the flight received take-off clearance from air traffic control and JAL operations team was working under the assumption that the flight could take off by the curfew and thus did not request a permission to use take off after the curfew from the prefecture. However, because another JAL flight arrived at the airport from Tokyo around the same time and had to backtrack on the runway, it took longer than initially expected for JL286 to take off.
Shimane Prefecture Airport Ordinance imposes a fine of up to 50,000 yen for taking off and landing during the curfew without the prefecture governor’s permission. Having concluded that there was no reason to reduce the fine, JAL was fined the full amount. This is the first time the fine has been imposed on an airline by the prefecture.