JAL chief to quit after air mishaps

TOKYO – Japan Airlines said today its chairman was resigning, a day after a drop in cabin pressure forced a JAL flight from New York to Tokyo with 355 people aboard to make an emergency landing.

Also Sunday, another JAL flight carrying 85 passengers bound for Manila was rerouted when the plane’s altimeter malfunctioned, officials said. There were no injuries in either incident.

Isao Kaneko will resign at the end of the month to take responsibility for a string of safety lapses at Japan’s largest carrier, company spokesman Teiji Murayama said.

Murayama said Kaneko’s offer to resign on May 31 was accepted early today. Japan’s Transport Ministry issued a highly unusual public warning to the company earlier this year over a series of errors.

In January a JAL pilot in northern Japan attempted to take off without receiving approval from air traffic controllers.

The Japan Airlines jet headed to Tokyo from New York on Sunday landed in northern Japan about an hour after the sudden drop in air pressure inside the cabin, officials said.

The pilot guided the Boeing 747 from an altitude of 33,000 feet to 9,900 feet about 10 minutes after the loss of pressure triggered the release of oxygen masks.

The flight, the second leg of a journey that began in Brazil, landed at Shin Chitose Airport in Sapporo city on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido.

Separately, the JAL jet carrying 85 passengers bound for Manila was rerouted to an airport near the western city of Osaka when its altimeter malfunctioned shortly after takeoff from the central city of Nagoya, the officials said.

The altimeter was fixed two hours later, and the plane continued on to the Philippines, according to officials.