Japan flight makes emergency landing after bomb threat

A Jetstar Japan plane made an emergency landing at Chubu Centrair International Airport on Saturday after officials received a bomb threat.Photo by Jiji Publishing House/EPA-EFE

Just after 7:30 a.m. local time, Flight 501 landed safely. The Airbus A320 was originally scheduled to fly from Tokyo’s Narita Airport to Fukuoka Airport in southwestern Japan.

Emergency vehicles met the plane on the airport’s single runway, which was closed for five hours, leading to the cancellation of about 60 flights. About 30 others were delayed.

Five of the flight’s 136 passengers suffered minor injuries while using the plane’s inflatable slide. The six crew members were not injured and no one was taken to hospital, officials said.

The aircraft was then searched no explosives were found equipment.

At 6:18 am, a bomb threat call was received at Narita Airport. The caller told airline employees that a bomb had been planted on the plane and then asked to speak to superiors. Airport staff said the caller did not speak Japanese.

Officials later said the call appeared to have originated in Germany.

The airline did not become aware of the threat until about 30 minutes after receiving the call, by which time the plane had already taken off. It then notified the plane’s two pilots, instructing them to make an emergency landing.

One passenger said the on-board announcement told people that an emergency landing was imminent, but did not explain why. A second bulletin did not detail the bomb threat until after the plane landed, Kyodo News reported.

Jetstar Japan operates 16 domestic routes and 1 international route using a fleet of Airbus A320 and Boeing 787 aircraft.