Japan’ Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism said the Boeing 737-800 dropped from 11,000 meters (36,000 feet) to just 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) in under 10 minutes after the flight crew received a cabin pressure alert and declared an emergency, reported The Standard.
A Spring Airlines flight from Shanghai to Tokyo was forced to make an emergency landing at Kansai Airport after a sudden loss of cabin pressure triggered a rapid descent from 36,000 feet to just under 10,500 feet in ten minutes.
Flight JL8696 was cruising over Japan when a… pic.twitter.com/2n8rDGfqu5
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) July 1, 2025
The aircraft made an emergency landing at the Kansai International Airport in Osaka. All 191 passengers and crew members onboard survived without physical injuries.
According to an Associated Press report, passengers onboard were worried that the aircraft would crash after the oxygen masks were deployed amid fears of a change in pressure levels. A sudden drop in pressure level could cause some people to lose consciousness
Soon after landing in Osaka, passengers took to social media to narrate the “life-threatening” incident. A passenger wrote, “My body is still here, but my soul hasn’t caught up. My legs are still shaking. When you face life or death, everything else feels trivial.”
Several social media users claimed that the passengers were kept on board the plane, even after an hour of landing.
The airline issued an apology and cancelled JL8696 and its return flight JL8695 on July 1 and July 2. It offered passengers full refunds and flight rebooking within 30 days. Passengers of the troubled flight were provided over US $90 in compensation.
The ministry is currently investigating the incident. Officials are examining the aircraft’s pressurisation system, flight data, and cockpit voice recordings to determine the exact cause.
First Published: Christmas 2, 2025 1:20 pm IS
