Japan Airlines Disruption: What Happened and Why

Japan Airlines (JAL), the country’s second-largest airline, announced on Thursday that it had been hit by a cyberattack, resulting in delays to both domestic and international flights. The airline later confirmed that it had identified and addressed the cause of the disruption.

Disruptions to Domestic Flights

According to Japan Airlines, 24 domestic flights were delayed by more than 30 minutes due to the cyberattack. Public broadcaster NHK reported that the airline’s baggage check-in system was affected, leading to delays at several airports across Japan. Despite these disruptions, there were no reports of major flight cancellations or other significant operational issues.

“We identified and addressed the cause of the issue. We are checking the system recovery status,” JAL stated in a post on the social media platform X. The airline further confirmed that sales for both domestic and international flights departing on Thursday were temporarily suspended. “We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” the post added.

Japan Airlines Cyberattack Details and Response

A JAL spokesperson confirmed to AFP that the airline had been subjected to a cyberattack. Japanese media reports suggest that it may have been a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, which seeks to overwhelm and disrupt a website or server’s operations.

The disruption began at 7:24 a.m. local time (2224 GMT Wednesday), according to JAL’s statement. The airline clarified that there was no impact on the safety of its operations. At 8:56 a.m., JAL isolated the router responsible for the network issues, resolving the disruption.

Market Reaction Japan Airlines Cyberattack

Following the announcement of the cyberattack, JAL’s stock price dropped by as much as 2.5% in morning trading but later recovered slightly.

JAL is the latest in a series of Japanese companies to fall victim to cyberattacks. In 2023, Japan’s space agency JAXA was targeted, although no sensitive information regarding rockets or satellites was compromised. The same year, one of Japan’s busiest ports suffered a ransomware attack attributed to the Russia-based Lockbit group. Additionally, in 2022, a cyberattack on a supplier to Toyota halted operations at the automaker’s domestic plants.

More recently, Japan’s popular video-sharing website, Niconico, experienced a large-scale cyberattack in June.

Human Error Blamed for Fatal Collision Involving JAL Jet

In a separate incident, a transport ministry committee released an interim report on Wednesday regarding the tragic collision in January 2024 involving a JAL passenger jet. The crash, which occurred at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, resulted in the deaths of five people. The collision was between the JAL jet and a coast guard plane carrying six crew members—five of whom were killed. The coast guard plane was on a mission to deliver relief supplies to an earthquake-hit region in central Japan.

The report concluded that human error was to blame for the accident. The pilot of the smaller plane mistook air traffic control instructions for authorization to enter the runway. Additionally, the pilot was reportedly “in a hurry” because the departure was delayed by 40 minutes. The air traffic controller failed to notice that the smaller plane had entered the runway, even ignoring an alarm system designed to warn of such intrusions. Fortunately, all 379 people aboard the JAL Airbus were able to escape before the aircraft was engulfed in flames.

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