A Japan Air System passenger plane on a flight from Osaka overran a runway Thursday while landing in heavy snow at Aomori airport, JAS officials said.
The 159 passengers and crew aboard the MD-81 were uninjured and the plane was not damaged, the officials said.
The incident occurred at around 10:20 a.m., when JAS Flight 751 overran the runway by 70 or 80 meters before finally coming to a stop on rough grassland, the officials said.
The Transport Ministry's Aomori office said planes usually touch down about 300 meters from the start of the runway, but officials detected the first traces of the plane's tires in the snow at around 1,200 meters from the start of the runway, suggesting it overshot its landing by 900 meters.
The runway was closed from 10:30 a.m., causing the cancellation of nine JAS and All Nippon Airways flights, including flights to Nagoya and Haneda airports, the officials said.
A local weather station said that at the time of the incident the wind was blowing at 21.6 kph and there was heavy snow. The pilot's visibility was limited to 500 meters, it said.
A bus took the plane's passengers from the aircraft to the airport terminal at around 11.15 a.m.
Masumi Kudo, 24, a passenger from Ikoma, Nara Prefecture, said, "I thought we landed properly, but the airplane stopped abruptly the way a car would skid. It was not a great shock, but I was caught by surprise nonetheless."