Japan Airlines pilots and crew sound alarm after spate of safety issues

Ground handling staff and pilots at Japan Airlines Co. have expressed concern about a lack of on-the-job training and difficulties communicating with more senior employees, according to people familiar with the matter, amid a series of safety incidents at the carrier. During the pandemic, many ground handling staff aged between 30 and 50 left JAL to try their luck elsewhere because they didn’t see an immediate recovery in the airline industry, breaking a connecting string between veterans and younger staff, the people said. Those employees would have normally provided informal training to new recruits and younger people now feel unable to freely ask questions of more senior workers, they added, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. A similar dynamic has been playing out in JAL cockpits where sometimes pilots are meeting each other for the first time, the people said. That’s making it more difficult to communicate concerns in a country where seniority-based hierarchy still runs deep, the people said. A spokesperson for JAL declined to comment. The Japanese airline touched upon the lack of skilled manpower at its shareholder meeting last week. “We failed to build an environment where ground staff could ensure safety amid various pressures and that led to the series of incidents,” said Munekazu Tachibana, the carrier’s senior vice president of corporate safety and security.<br/>