A Japan Airlines flight was turned away and had to fly 550 miles back to Tokyo after missing an airport's closing time by 10 minutes, report says

A Japan Airlines flight at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images

• A Japan Airlines flight was turned back after missing a curfew, per a Japanese newspaper.
• Fukuoka Airport does not allow flights to land after 10 p.m. due to noise concerns.
• The plane flew 550 miles back to its point of origin at Tokyo Haneda airport.
  

A Japanese airliner was forced to turn back right outside its destination airport, and fly 550 miles back to Tokyo because it missed a 10 p.m. cutoff to land, a report said.

The flight, JL331 by Japan Airlines, was turned back just outside Fukuoka Airport on Sunday February 19 after just missing the curfew for landing, The Asahi Shimbun reported.

What was meant to be a two-hour flight covering 550 miles instead became a 16-hour ordeal before the passengers reached their destination.

The plane turned back to Tokyo Haneda airport, but had too little fuel for the journey so had to stop in Osaka. On arrival, passengers were given hotels and told to wait for a morning flight, which landed successfully.

A Japan Airlines flight was turned back. The flight path above shows its route to Osaka, where it stopped for fuel before continuing to Tokyo Haneda.

Screengrad/Flightradar24

Insider confirmed most of the route via data from the plane-tracking site FlightRadar24.

Flights are not allowed to land at the airport after 10 p.m. due to noise concerns, officials of the operator of Fukuoka Airport told The Asahi Shimbun. The curfew is meant to limit noise that could disturb people living nearby. 

The flight was scheduled to depart from Tokyo at 6.30 p.m. local time on Sunday and land in Fukuoka at 8.30 p.m., but only took off at around 8 p.m.

Japan Airlines told Insider that the delay was because of a last-minute change of aircraft and bad weather that day in Tokyo.

It did not directly address the curfew policy, only noting that its plane was pre-approved for landing at 9.56 p.m. but denied permission when it arrived.

The flight, carrying 335 passengers, landed back in Tokyo at 2.50 a.m. after the stop-off, the airline told The Asahi Shimbun.

In an email to Insider, Japan Airlines said it covered cab fares and hotels for everyone on board.

A Fukuoka Airport official told the media outlet that flights could land after 10 p.m. if a delay was unavoidable, like from bad weather, or traffic at the airport. But, the official said, this delay did not count.

Insider could not reach the airport directly.

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