Japan's ANA plane overruns runway

An All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight from Tokyo's Haneda airport overran the runway at a northern Japanese airport, the airline said on Sunday.

None of the 161 passengers and six crew members were injured and no damage to the Boeing 737-800 plane was reported after the incident late Saturday, ANA said in a statement.

Japan's transport ministry however considered it a serious incident that could have caused a disaster and sent investigators to the scene.

An ANA spokesman denied an earlier report that the aircraft's automatic braking system failed. "We understand all the systems of the plane functioned normally," he said.

The pilot tried to land according to normal procedures. But the plane overran the runway and only stopped after travelling onto a grassy area at Shonai airport, the airline said.

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Fortunately nobody is injured and the plane isn't damaged. Conditions at the airport were snowy but the runway seems to be cleared of snow. Considering the fairly small size of the plane, the B737 still overshot the runway, something must be very wrong.

Was there an overload? Was reverse thrust deployed? Was the approach inappropriate? Question marks loom while investigations are being carried out.