The 64-year-old captain had been flagged by the airline as someone who needed close monitoring after he was found with a below-threshold level of alcohol seven years ago. He had vowed to quit drinking, according to JAL.
The airline said the pilot, who flew international routes, had altered the date settings on his alcohol testing kit during the latest instance and on previous occasions after consuming alcohol prior to piloting flights back to Japan.
In December, JAL banned its pilots from drinking during their stays before return flights, following a spate of alcohol-related problems involving the carrier’s employees.
In the latest case, after flying from Japan to Honolulu on Aug 27, the pilot had three beers — each 568 milliliters — by around 2:30 p.m., according to the company.
The next morning, he used his testing kit about 60 times, with every result showing the presence of alcohol. He then changed the dates of some of the tests on the kit, creating the appearance that they had been performed sometime earlier.
The pilot notified the company shortly after noon on Aug. 28 that he was feeling unwell, admitting he drank the day before and his testing kit was indicating the presence of alcohol.
The flight to Chubu airport near Nagoya that he was supposed to pilot was delayed by about 2 hours, while two flights bound for Haneda airport in Tokyo were delayed by over 18 hours.
A senior Japan Airlines official apologized to the public at a news conference on Thursday, pledging to take stern action against the pilot.
The pilot told an internal probe that he had drunk on around 10 occasions since May during his stays, the company said. The probe also uncovered the earlier instances in which he had tampered with date settings on his testing kit.
During a company interview in August, the pilot was told to stop drinking and he promised to kick the habit, according to JAL.
