Small jet overshoots at Japanese airport, causing runway closure

A small jet overshot the runway at Oita Airport on Sunday, triggering its closure for around an hour and the cancellation of at least four flights.

The HondaJet light business aircraft deviated from the runway and came to a stop on nearby grass, according to the Oita Airport bureau of the transportation ministry. None of the three men aboard the aircraft were injured and there was no fire.

The runway was closed after the aircraft, which was on a training flight, landed at about 2:10 p.m. The aircraft unit of Honda Motor said the jet took off from Oita Airport at around 12:20 p.m. on Sunday and returned to the airport on time.

The latest accident comes amid growing concerns over aviation safety in the country after a Japan Airlines plane collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft on a runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Jan. 2, setting the two on fire.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has classified the case at Oita as a serious incident, with the Japan Transport Safety Board planning to dispatch two aircraft accident investigators to the site.