Japan Airlines hit by cyberattack, flights delayed, ticket sales halted

Japan Airlines on Thursday said it was hit by a cyberattack, which resulted in delays to some domestic and international flights and the suspension of ticket sales.

In a statement on X, the Japanese flag carrier reported a system malfunction in its internal and external systems at 7:24 am (local time) and apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passengers.

“A system malfunction has been occurring in the network equipment that connects the company and its customers since 7:24 am today. This is expected to affect both domestic and international flights. We will notify you in our next announcement as soon as we have confirmed the situation. We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” it said.

Around half an hour later, Japan Airlines posted an update, saying it identified the cause of the issue at 8:56 am (local time) and took action. It said it temporarily shut down a router that caused the system malfunction and also suspended ticket sales for domestic and international flights departing today.

“We identified the cause of the problem at 8:56 am and took action. We are currently checking the system recovery status. In addition, sales have been suspended for both domestic and international flights departing today. We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” the airline tweeted.

Japan Airlines was founded on August 1, 1951. The airline began its operations as a private company, but it quickly transitioned into a state-owned entity. In 1987, the airline was again fully privatised.

The airline’s main hubs are located at Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports, as well as Osaka’s Kansai and Itami airports.