At approximately 0330 EST, local Japanese media reported that a US fighter aircraft had an emergency situation which prompted airport emergency services to respond at Iwakuni Kintaikyo Airport in Yamaguchi, Japan.
By 0345 EST, All Nippon Airways flight NH636 bound for Haneda, Japan was delayed due to the emergency response to the U.S. aircraft mishap. By 0500 EST, three additional All Nippon Airways flights had been cancelled.
By 0353 EST, emergency services confirmed that a flat tire on a U.S. F-35A fighter had prompted the emergency situation. Local Japanese media confirmed that the F-35A experienced a flat tire during landing.
BY 0622 EST, Iwakuni Kintaikyo Airport resumed full operations after the runway that the F-35A was stuck on was reopened.
It is important to note that Iwakuni Kintaikyo Airport is actually on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. However, this military airport was given a civilian commercial terminal in 2012 to accommodate up to 400,000 passengers a year via All Nippon Airways and ANA wings. So, this outage, while inconvenient to civilian passengers is not as severe as a U.S. fighter having a mishap at a truly civilian airport in Japan.
