Japan Airlines’ senior management is facing some serious punishment, including pay cuts, over a recent incident involving a drinking pilot. The only problem? This is the second time this year that we’re seeing such a pay cut for exactly the same reason…
Japan Airlines executives punished over pilot actions
Senior executives at Japan Airlines are going to have their pay docked in the short term, following yet another incident of a pilot having drank too much prior to operating a flight. Specifically, CEO Mitsuko Tottori will have her pay cut by 30% for a period of two months. Furthermore, the company’s safety manager, Yukio Nakagawa, will receive a 20% pay cut for one month, while all other directors will receive a 10% pay cut for one month.
This isn’t the first time that Japan Airlines executives have had their pay docked over pilots drinking inappropriately. Earlier this year, we saw exactly the same punishment over a previous incident. And that wasn’t even the first time this system was used for punishment.
Of course this level of accountability all very much reflects Japanese business culture, and of senior leaders taking responsibility when things go wrong. Optics also matter. It reminds me of how in 2009, when Japan Airlines was losing money, the CEO would take the bus to work, and would have lunch in the employee cafeteria with everyone else.
Japan Airlines’ issue with drinking pilots
Over the years, Japan Airlines has had a series of flight delays and cancellations due to pilots being over the legal limit for alcohol. Nowadays, Japan Airlines pilots aren’t allowed to fly if they’ve had alcohol within 12 hours of a flight, or if they have any alcohol left in their system by the time they get to the airport.
During the most recent incident, a Japan Airlines flight from Honolulu to Tokyo was seriously delayed, after a captain admitted he had too much to drink. Due to the crew swaps between flights, this ended up causing delays to three flights from Honolulu.
It’s one thing if this were the first time that something like that happened, but it was only the latest in a string of incidents involving the airline. This has caused increased government and public scrutiny of the oneworld carrier.
Prior to the latest incident, in December 2024, a Japan Airlines flight from Melbourne to Tokyo was delayed by over three hours, after two pilots were above the alcohol limit. They had both self-administered tests at their hotel a couple of hours before departure, and found they had alcohol in their system. So the flight had to be delayed until the breath test showed no alcohol in their system.
Then before that, in April 2024, a Japan Airlines flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled after a pilot was drunk and misbehaving during the layover, to the point that the police had to be called.
Perhaps the worst incident of all was in 2018, when a Japan Airlines flight from London to Tokyo was canceled after a pilot was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.189. At the time, the maximum blood alcohol level for pilots was 0.02, so he was at nearly 10x that limit.
So, does Japan Airlines specifically have a problem with drinking pilots, or what’s going on? It’s hard to know for sure, though a few thoughts:
- Japan Airlines is hardly alone with having situations where pilots get in trouble for being over the limit to fly
- Japan Airlines has a zero tolerance policy for alcohol nowadays, which is much stricter than in most other countries
- Despite how “proper” many aspects of Japanese culture seem, a lot of Japanese people definitely like to “let loose” when given the chance, and I imagine the career of a pilot provides a lot of tempting opportunities for that
Bottom line
Japan Airlines’ CEO is taking a 30% pay cut for a period of two months, following yet another incident where a pilot was found to be violating the carrier’s alcohol policy. On top of that, other executives had their pay docked as well.
This is now the second time this year that executives are facing this punishment, so I’m not sure this is really working. Then again, given the really strict alcohol limits, there are always going to be some “bad apples,” and I’m not sure this can be blamed squarely on management. When you have a workforce of thousands, can you really control for the actions of every single person?
What do you make of Japan Airlines’ senior managers taking pay cuts over this pilot situation?