TOKYO, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Japan Airlines Co. (JAL) received fresh disciplines from the Japanese government to improve its operations on Friday, after one of its flight attendants was found drunk on duty last month in the most recent scandal involving flight crews, local media reported.
An internal investigation showed that on a flight from Tokyo to Honolulu on Dec. 17, 2018, a 46-year-old female attendant's breath smelt of alcohol and failed two breathalyzer tests conducted after a colleague noticed, JAL said.
She has also admitted to consuming alcohol on a flight in November 2017, the airline said.
Friday's action came as an addition to pressure JAL into enhancing its safety management after the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism issued a business improvement order for JAL in December.
"The company as a whole lacks awareness and this is a critical problem in terms of safety," said transport minister Keiichi Ishii.
"I deeply apologize for a series of cases of misconduct," said JAL President Yuji Akasaka, after receiving the newest recommendation from the government.
Akasaka and Eri Abe, head of the cabin attendants division, had taken 20 and 10 percent salary reductions for one month, respectively, to shoulder the responsibility of the incident.
The airline has been embroiled in other drinking incidents involving its staff. A JAL co-pilot, who exceeded the British alcohol limit by around 10 times prior to a flight in October, was arrested in London and sentenced to 10 months in prison in late November 2017.
The airline said after the London incident that it planned to introduce breathalyzer tests for the flight attendants as well.
