Japan Airlines was compelled to rearrange separate flights to separate up a gaggle of sumo wrestlers over considerations that their puddle jumper aircraft could be overloaded. The group was en path to a contest on the small southern Japanese island of Amami Oshima, leaving from Haneda Airport in Tokyo and Itami Airport in Osaka, taking a pair of Boeing 737-800s on the identical day. The airline decided that the small island airport couldn’t deal with a bigger aircraft, so it booked a second aircraft for the wrestlers.
Fourteen of the passengers had been shuttled from Osaka to Toky0, and a complete of 27 passengers made the JAL flight in time for the competitors. The 737-800 is a stretched model of the 737-700, and may maintain as many as 189 passengers per flight. A spokesperson for the airline mentioned it’s “extremely rare for us to operate special flights.” A second particular flight was added for the return flight from the competitors.
According to native reviews, the typical passenger weighs round 154 kilos, whereas these sumo gents averaged round 260 kilos. It appears to me that Japan Airlines would have a troublesome time with a flight filled with American vacationers. I tip the scales above that, although partially as a result of I’m over six ft and have thick thighs. I don’t suppose I might compete on the identical degree as these guys (however I would give it a strive if pressed).
The competitors, which started on Friday, invited some 460 sumo wrestlers to compete. I assume that many different wrestlers had been stratified amongst a number of different flights by means of the week and didn’t trigger a problem like this one. It’s most likely for the perfect that the airline selected to function with fewer passengers onboard. That would not less than decrease the probability that you just had been caught in a center seat between a pair of armrest-hogging rivals.
Source: jalopnik.com