A plane has returned to its departure airport in Japan after a female member of the cabin crew was bitten by a drunk passenger, according to the airline.
The All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 118 took off from Tokyo on Tuesday night and was heading to Seattle where it was due to land 10 hours later, FlightAware tracking data showed.
But it went back to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport three hours into its journey.
An ANA spokesperson told Sky’s US partner network NBC News: “While flying over the Pacific Ocean, a passenger who was heavily intoxicated bit the arm of a female cabin attendant prompting the plane to return to Tokyo Haneda Airport.”
The female flight attendant suffered minor injuries and the suspect, who has not been named, was handed over to police, ANA said.
Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, citing unnamed police officials, reported the suspect was a 55-year-old American citizen who was arrested on assault charges.
NBC News has not confirmed the suspect’s identity nor the charge.
There have been a number of incidents this month involving planes in Japan.
They include an ANA flight which returned to its departure airport due to a crack being found on the cockpit window of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft mid-air.
Flight 1182 was on a domestic journey last Saturday heading to Toyama airport but then headed back to Sapporo’s New Chitose airport.
The crack was found on the outermost of four layers of windows surrounding the cockpit, a spokesperson for the Japanese airline said.
“The crack was not something that affected the flight’s control or pressurisation,” the spokesperson said. No injuries were reported among 59 passengers and six crew, they added.
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On 2 January, a Japan Airlines plane became an inferno after it collided with a coastguard plane at Haneda airport.
All 379 people on board the passenger jet escaped, but five people on the smaller aircraft were killed.
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Also in Japan, two planes made contact on Tuesday this week at an airport, leaving one with damage to its wing.
A Korean Air plane – carrying 289 passengers and crew members – clipped a Cathay Pacific aircraft at New Chitose Airport on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, a Korean Air official said.
The contact happened while the Korean Air plane was preparing for take-off, the airline official said.
