Japanese airlines added planes after learning they were carrying many sumo wrestlers. In order to prevent excess weight affecting fuel availability, airlines are adding aircraft.
Reporting from the Guardian, Tuesday (17/10/2023) Japan Airlines added an extra plane after 27 sumo athletes made the plane too heavy to fly.
They are worried that if they are forced to fly, the plane will not have enough fuel to reach their destination.
The sumo rikishi athletes were scheduled to board a Boeing 737-800 flight from Haneda airport in Tokyo and Itami airport in Osaka to Amami Oshima, an island at the southern tip of Japan.
The wrestlers were scheduled to compete in a sports festival, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.
Concerns about fuel capacity arose when staff discovered on Thursday evening that the passenger list included sumo wrestlers, who they estimated weighed an average of 120 kg per person.
And if you want to change to a large plane, Amami Airport will have difficulty accepting the plane.
JAL airlines were forced to provide additional planes to transport 27 sumo wrestlers, as well as 14 people who had to fly from Itami to Haneda to board the special flight.
Additional flights were also made to bring the wrestlers home after the tournament ended on Sunday.
"It is very unusual for us to operate a special flight due to the weight restrictions on this aircraft," a JAL spokesperson told regional newspaper Minami-Nippon Shimbun.
