On the evening of March 9th, local time in Japan, a regional passenger aircraft of Japan Airlines, scheduled to fly from Sapporo to Hakodate, was forced to abort its takeoff at Chitose Airport in Sapporo after colliding with a fox during the pre-takeoff taxi. At the time, there were 44 passengers and 3 crew members on board, all of whom escaped without injury.
The incident occurred amidst snowfall, which led to the passengers being rerouted, affecting some individuals' work schedules. The flight that was supposed to return from Hakodate to Sapporo Chitose the following morning was also canceled.
Footage from the airport showed that the fox, measuring approximately 50 to 60 centimeters in length, was subsequently collected and handled by the Ground Self-Defense Force, which manages the runway. The exact circumstances of how the fox managed to enter the area remain unclear.
This incident follows another at New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, where the runway was temporarily closed due to two deer wandering into the area adjacent to the runway on March 6th.
Editor: Liu Qingyang Copy Editor: Liu Jia