Budget carrier Jetstar Japan Co. canceled two domestic flights Sunday covering a round-trip service between Narita and Fukuoka airports, as it could not secure crew needed for operation, an airline official said.
It marks the first time Jetstar's flights have been canceled due to a crew shortage with some members of the company's flight crew labor union on strike since Friday. But the official denied that the strike caused the disruption and instead cited illness as the reason.
According to the union, several pilots and flight attendants have been on strike each day, with around 120 members refusing unscheduled work on holidays from early December.
The airline often asks crew members who are on holiday to stand in for colleagues if they become sick.
The union launched the strike as negotiations with the management failed after demanding the company pay employees' unpaid wages, claiming that overtime work had been calculated erroneously. The union plans to continue the strike through Jan. 7 next year, it said.
