Japan Airlines pilot Katsutoshi Jitsukawa, 42, was arrested at the west London airport on October 28 after failing a breath test 50 minutes before flight JL44 was due to take off.
The Press Association reports he was found to have in his system 189mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood - around nine and a half times the 20mg legal limit for pilots.
According to Japanese broadcaster NHK, the driver of a crew bus alerted police after smelling alcohol on the pilot.
Jitsukawa pleaded guilty to exceeding the alcohol limit when he appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (November 1). He will be sentenced on November 29.
Earlier this year, British Airways pilot Julian Monaghan was jailed for eight months after testing four times the alcohol limit when he turned up for a flight from Gatwick to Mauritius.
