US-bound plane returns to Tokyo after man bites flight attendant

A U.S.-bound passenger jet returned to a Tokyo airport after a drunk passenger bit a flight attendant, the airline said Thursday.

"While flying over the Pacific Ocean, a passenger who was heavily intoxicated bit the arm of a female cabin attendant prompting the plane to return to Tokyo Haneda airport," a spokesperson for All Nippon Airways told NBC News Thursday, without naming the suspect.

Flight ANA 118 took off at 9:24 p.m. Tuesday (7:24 a.m. ET) and was due to land in Seattle 10 hours later, according to flight tracking company FlightAware. But it returned to Tokyo Haneda Airport three hours later at 12:26 a.m. (10:26 a.m. ET Tuesday), the data showed.

The suspect was handed over to police and the female flight attendant sustained minor injuries, ANA said.

The suspect is a 55-year-old American citizen and was arrested on assault charges, the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported, citing unnamed police officials. NBC News has not confirmed the suspect's identity nor the charge.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com.