An airline was forced to turn away a group of sumo wrestlers from two flights following concerns they would push the planes over their weight limit.

Japan Airlines (JAL) instead laid on an extra flight for the men after calculating that they weighed around 120kg each – far above its usual passenger average of 70kg per adult.

The group were attempting to travel on two Boeing 737-800s to a competition on the island of Amami Oshima in the south of Japan, local media reported.

One of the flights was due to depart from Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Thursday, while the other was set to take off from Itami Airport in Osaka the same day.

Airline officials decided the island’s airport was too small to accommodate larger aircraft, so a special extra flight for the sumo wrestlers was laid on from Tokyo instead.

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It took off with 27 passengers on board, including 14 who first had to be transferred on another flight from Osaka to the Japanese capital.

A JAL spokesperson told the Minami-Nippon Shimbun newspaper it was “extremely rare for us to operate special flights” due to weight restrictions.

Around 460 sumo wrestlers were due to take part in the island’s competition, which began on Friday, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The newspaper added another special flight had been arranged for the return journey.

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