An airline had to say no to a group of sumo wrestlers who wanted to get on two flights. They were worried that the sumo wrestlers would make the planes too heavy.

So, Japan Airlines (JAL) decided to organize an extra flight just for these wrestlers. The reason was that when they added up the weight of each wrestler, it came to about 120 kilograms. That’s much more than the usual weight of an adult passenger, which is about 70 kilograms.

Sumo wrestlers in Amami Oshima

These sumo wrestlers were trying to go to a competition on an island called Amami Oshima in the south of Japan. One flight was supposed to leave from Haneda Airport in Tokyo, and the other from Itami Airport in Osaka, both on the same day.

But the airline thought that the airport on the island couldn’t handle bigger planes. So, they set up a special flight just for the sumo wrestlers. This flight had 27 passengers, and 14 of them had to first take another flight from Osaka to Tokyo.

A spokesperson from JAL said that they rarely have to organize special flights like this because of weight rules.

The competition on the island had about 460 sumos participating, and it began on Friday. They even arranged another special flight for the return trip.

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