A Taiwanese plane bound for Taipei from Fukuoka returned to the airport twice Saturday afternoon after reporting a defect with its nose wheel.
The China Airlines' Airbus A300, carrying 241 passengers and crew, reported the nose-wheel fault and returned to Fukuoka airport at 12:18 p.m., about two hours after taking off, airport officials said. No one was hurt.
The airplane again left Fukuoka airport at 3:30 p.m. before returning at 4:01 p.m.
There were no injuries on the second flight, during which the plane reported the same problem and turned around eight minutes after taking off, they said.
In the first incident, the plane took off later than scheduled, at 10:25 a.m., but about an hour later informed the airport that it was heading back, the officials said.
At the time, the plane was near Fukue Island in the Goto island chain off southwestern Japan.
Passengers who disembarked at Fukuoka airport following the two aborted flights seemed tired.
"I just can't forgive it because there were no proper explanations for either the first or second incidents," said a 61-year-old woman from Fukuoka who was flying on to Bangkok via Taipei.
China Airlines put the passengers aboard another aircraft that left Fukuoka for Taipei on Saturday evening.