Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Issues Strict Warning to Spring Japan for Alleged Captain’s Drinking Violation Concealment

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism has issued a strict warning to Spring Japan.

On March 18, the captain of flight SJO444 from Kitakyushu to Tokyo/Haneda conducted a pre-flight alcohol test in a manner that deviated from operational regulations and then reported the matter to the Ministry on the same day. A further detailed investigation later confirmed on April 22 that the captain had violated the alcohol consumption limits defined in operational guidelines based on objective data.

The Ministry conducted an onsite inspection under the Aviation Act on April 23, and found that the alcohol detector assigned to the captain had recorded several instances of alcohol detection from about five hours before reporting for duty. The captain reportedly explained that this was due to the influence of energy drinks and other factors.

The Ministry determined that the captain’s conduct constituted a malicious violation as the captain attempted to conceal the incident with unreasonable explanations. They noted that the alcohol testing system was not functioning properly, and issued a strict warning while instructing the airline to submit measures to prevent recurrence by May 30.