A drunk pilot has just cost the president of Japan Airlines 20 percent of his salary for a few months.
Taking responsibility for the errant cockpit crew member, the top executive at the carrier, Yuji Akasaka, will take home less pay December through February, while Toshinori Shin, a senior managing executive officer, will have his reduced by 10 percent. Both of them had already voluntarily given up a part of their salaries for November.
The pilot, who showed up for duty to fly the London-Tokyo route on Oct. 28, was found to have consumed excessive alcohol, following which he was handed a 10-month sentence in the U.K. Japan Airlines Co. apologized for the embarrassing incident and announced corrective measures, including better awareness and training for all its employees.
It isn’t unusual for top Japanese executives to take pay cuts in an act of contrition. After revealing improper vehicle inspection practices at their local factories last year, the chief executive officers of Nissan Motor Co. and Subaru Corp. announced a similar move. And, airlines around the world routinely battle the issue of inebriated pilots. Earlier this month, India’s aviation regulator suspended the license of a senior Air India captain for three years after he failed a booze test an hour before a Delhi-London flight.
