Japan Airlines CEO takes pay cut after cabin crew booze scandal
Misuko Tottori, the CEO and president of Japan Airlines (JAL), has taken a temporary 30% pay cut after cabin crew staff delayed take off by violating the company’s alcohol policies.
A spokesperson for Japan Airlines told Business Insider that Tottori will receive a 30% reduction in monthly compensation for two months “to demonstrate our accountability for this incident.”
Chairperson Yuji Akasaka will also receive a 30% salary reduction for the same period and will be removed from his post as safety controller.
Two executives in charge of safety and cabin operations are also having their pay slashed by 20% for one month, with all other directors and executive officers receiving 10% reductions for a month.
This comes after a domestic JAL flight was delayed by 40 minutes, after a staff member tested positive for alcohol.
How the incident unfolded
The plane was scheduled to set off from Hiroshima Airport for Tokyo’s Haneda airport at 7.30am on 23 May 2026.
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However, the flight was delayed until 8.22am, after a female crew member was found to have drunk more alcohol than permitted by company regulations the night before..
The airline received an administrative warning from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, who reprimanded the airline and urged it to come up with preventive measures.
In response, JAL banned its more than 6,000 flight attendants from drinking alcohol during their stay between return flights.
Drinking dilemmas
The incident follows a spate of alcohol-related incidents over the past few years. In 2025, an international flight captain drank excessively before his return flight, causing an 18-hour delay for hundreds of passengers.
In 2024, a captain and co-pilot were also found to have tried to conceal excessive drinking before a flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Narita, Japan. The transport ministry rapped the carrier with a business improvement notice in response.
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