An Italian pilot threatened to crash his passenger jet with 200 passengers on board if his wife left him.
Police managed to stop the unnamed pilot from taking controls of the flight just minutes before take-off.
His wife had alerted authorities after he sent her a text message threatening to commit suicide and kill everyone on board the long-haul flight from Rome.
The man, in his 40s, was stopped by police at Fiumicino airport minutes before the plane was due to set off for Japan.
Another pilot took his place and passengers were not told about the incident, which happened in January last year but has been kept secret until now, The Times reported.
It happened two months before German pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed his Germanwings plane in the Alps, killing 149 people.
The Italian pilot sent the text message after his wife announced she was leaving him, and referred to the flight he was due to take that night.
The pilot had previously been reported to police by his wife for mistreatment.
He remains suspended and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation, according to local reports.
