A Jetstar flight made an emergency landing at Chubu Centrair International Airport in central Japan on Saturday due to a bomb threat, though no device was found, officials said, according to Reuters. The runway at the airport was closed after the flight from Narita airport near Tokyo, bound for Fukuoka in southern Japan, landed, but resumed operations after safety was confirmed, the spokesman said. There were 136 passengers and 6 crew members on board, the spokesperson said. No explosives or other suspicious objects were found in a search of the cabin and luggage, the official said. Five passengers sustained minor injuries while evacuating via the airplane's inflatable slides following its arrival at Chubu Centrair International Airport in Aichi Prefecture at 7:41 a.m. No one was hospitalized, according to the airline operator. The threat was made at 6:18 a.m. when someone called the information center at Narita airport near Tokyo, and said they had planted a bomb on Jetstar Flight 501, according to the airline operator, adding the caller did not speak in Japanese. The bomb threat appeared to come in from a call originating in Germany, with the caller demanding to speak with the "manager," Jetstar said. It was unclear to whom the caller was referring. The airline operator received the information from Narita airport at 6:53 a.m., or some 30 minutes after the threat came in, and subsequently informed the pilots of the plane, which was bound for Fukuoka from Narita, of the bomb threat, but the plane had already departed Narita at 6:36 a.m. After being informed, the pilots diverted the plane to Chubu airport, Jetstar said. According to a passenger, there was an in-flight announcement that the plane would make an emergency landing. Upon touchdown, another announcement was made to say a bomb may have been planted inside the plane. Some 60 flights scheduled to depart from or arrive at Chubu airport were canceled following the incident, which took place at the start of a three-day weekend in Japan. About 30 more flights were delayed for an hour or more. Police cars and ambulances could be seen on the closed-off runway, while in the airport, passengers on canceled flights, as well as those from the threatened aircraft, waited in long lines for refunds. The closed-off runway at Chubu airport reopened at 12:15 p.m. Local police in Chiba Prefecture, where Narita airport is located, said it is investigating the incident on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business. Hiroyuki Kobayashi, a former Japan Airlines captain and an aviation expert, said the captain of the aircraft would not have taken off at Narita airport if he had been made aware of the bomb threat and said an investigation is needed to determine if the information could have been relayed sooner. Jetstar Japan is under the wing of Jetstar Group, which provides low-cost fares for travelers across the Asia-Pacific region and is partly owned by Japan Airlines Co. and Australia's Qantas Group. Currently, it operates 16 domestic routes and one international route. — Agencies
