Man arrested on Japan to America flight after allegedly biting cabin crew

Several local media outlets reported that a 55-year-old man was arrested by Tokyo Police after he allegedly bit a member of cabin crew

The All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight was forced to return to Haneda Airport in Tokyo in the early hours of Wednesday morning (Getty Images)

A man has been arrested at a Tokyo airport after allegedly biting a cabin crew member on a flight bound for Seattle.

The All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight was forced to return to Haneda Airport in Tokyo in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the incident prompted the captain to make a U-turn over the Pacific Ocean.

Data from Flight Radar shows an ANA Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner departing from the major flight hub at 9:47pm local time before turning around at 10:50pm and landing back at the airport at 12:23am on Wednesday morning.

An All Nippon Airways flight bound for Seattle made a sudden U-turn over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday night (Flight Radar)

Kyodo News reported that a 55-year-old American man was restrained by crew members and then handed over to police on suspicion of causing injury to a member of cabin crew.

Several local news outlets reported that the man denied the allegation and was cited as saying he “does not remember what happened as he had taken a sleeping pill”.

The Independent has contacted Tokyo Police, ANA and Haneda Airport for a comment.

Japanese air travel has made several headlines in recent weeks, with two crashes occurring within two weeks of each other.

On January 2nd, a fatal plane collision also at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport left five people dead when a Japan Airlines erupted into flames after the collision with a coastguard aircraft on the runway.

Footage from within the Japan Airlines Airbus-A350, which was carrying 379 people, including eight children, showed smoke pouring from beneath its wings as it landed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport at around 5.45pm local time (8.45am GMT).

On January 2nd, a fatal plane collision also at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport left five people dead (AP)

By the time the plane came to a standstill, it was engulfed by flames as rescuers rushed to evacuate all the passengers. Five coastguard crew members were killed in the collision. The pilot survived but was in a serious condition.

A passenger on board the commercial flight described the moment their plane appeared to have collided with the other aircraft.

“I felt a boom,” the unnamed passenger told the Kyodo news agency, “like we had hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed. I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with gas and smoke.”

Just yesterday, A Korean Air Lines plane came into contact with a Cathay Pacific Airways aircraft at New Chitose Airport on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.

A Korean Air spokesperson said: “A Korean Air aircraft came into contact with a Cathay aircraft during pushback at New Chitose (Sapporo) Airport by the third-party ground handler vehicle which slipped due to heavy snow. There were no injuries and the airline is cooperating with all relevant authorities.”