The last two of 20 special commercial flights ordered by the government to evacuate Japanese nationals from Indonesia were canceled due to a lack of passengers, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka said Friday.
The cancellations came after one flight returned Thursday to Narita airport, Chiba Prefecture, with only one passenger, and another returned with only nine people aboard.
The canceled flights had been scheduled to fly from Jakarta to Narita airport on Thursday and Friday evening. "Most Japanese people who wanted to leave the country seem to have already done so. We now believe that regular commercial flights will be enough to handle those hoping to return to Japan," Muraoka told a regular press conference.