Japan’s transport ministry will impose mandatory alcohol tests for commercial pilots at domestic airlines.
Following discussions with airline executives, the ministry has responded to the growing number of over-the-limit pilots turning up for work, which has led to several flight disruptions and one prison term for a JAL pilot.
It will set legal limits of 0.09 milligrams of alcohol per litre for pilots, with all breathalyser tests being conducted in the presence of an independent member of staff to prevent falsification attempts.
There are no current laws requiring tests, although certain airlines do conduct them voluntarily according to their own in-house rules.
it was also revealed that a JAL pilot has managed to evade pre-flight breath tests more than 100 times since last year.
The new rules will mandate them across the industry.
Flight crew members are prohibited from drinking less than eight hours of starting work, although there was no legal limit to the amount of alcohol consumption.
Both JAL and ANA have recently announced stricter company rules for flight crew and beefed up oversight as well as bringing in new testing equipment.
