A Japan Airlines pilot has evaded blood-alcohol tests more than 100 times since last year

The latest revelation adds to a series or drink-related incidents involving the airline’s flight crew, including last month’s jailing of a pilot in the UK

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The pilot avoided taking breathalyser tests 110 times since last summer. Photo: SCMP

Published: 10:57pm, 20 Dec 2018Updated: 1:31am, 21 Dec 2018

A Japan Airlines pilot has evaded preflight breathalyser tests more than 100 times since last year, the company said on Thursday, adding to the series of drinking incidents involving the airline’s flight crew.

The latest revelation came as the government conducted an on-site inspection of the airline following the arrest of one of its pilots in London in late October who showed up for work with a blood-alcohol level well in excess of the UK’s legal limit.

The airline has been hit by a number of alcohol scandals involving pilots recently. Photo: Kyodo

Company officials said the 52-year-old captain involved in the last incident had not taken the breath tests because he thought they were not compulsory under the airline’s regulations.

The Japanese government plans to set more stringent rules for drinking by airline pilots. Alcohol tests are currently not mandatory in Japan and there is no set legal limit.

According to Japan Airlines, the pilot in the latest case, who has flown 180 services since the summer of 2017, avoided taking breathalyser tests 110 times during that period. There were also 49 cases in which his co-pilots did not take breathalyser tests, it said.