On the night of December 22, Iwakuni Kintaikyo Airport, which serves both the US military and civilian operations in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, received a report that “several drones” had entered the area, temporarily blocking the runway.
This led to the delay of an All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight bound for the airport by approximately three hours.
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Subscribe to the NewsletterAccording to ANA and other sources, at around 7 PM on the 22nd, the airline was informed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism that “multiple drones” had entered the airspace of Iwakuni Kintaikyo Airport, Japan, making the runway temporarily unavailable.
As a result, an ANA flight en route to the airport from Haneda Airport was unable to land. After holding in the air, the flight diverted to Hiroshima Airport to refuel.
Once the runway resumed operations shortly after 8 PM, the flight continued to Iwakuni Kintaikyo Airport, arriving about three hours later than scheduled.
Consequently, the return flight to Haneda Airport was also delayed by approximately three hours, impacting a total of around 250 passengers across both flights.
The police are currently investigating the incident, including whether a drone was indeed present in the airspace.
