TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A glitch occurred with Japan Airlines’ computer system to calculate the weight balance of aircraft on Friday morning, forcing the major carrier to cancel 46 domestic flights to and from Haneda Airport.
The flight cancellations affected a total of about 6,600 passengers.
The system trouble also caused delays in many other JAL flights, with the maximum delay of 55 minutes hitting a flight to Okayama Airport in Okayama.
The glitch occurred at about 7:50 a.m. and was fixed about two hours later. The company is investigating the cause of the problem.
The system is for calculating the weights of cargoes and passengers in order to keep aircraft balanced. The system was unable to process data and stopped functioning when flight plans were being drawn up, according to JAL officials.
JAL instead used a standby system, but its processing speed was too low. The carrier’s flight services were affected as a result, the officials said.
No cyberattack has been confirmed, they said.
In June 2014, a glitch hit the same JAL system, leading to the cancellations of 174 flights, mainly to and from Haneda, and affecting about 14,000 passengers.
The latest trouble came only 10 days after All Nippon Airways’ system handling boarding procedures for domestic flights failed on March 22, affecting about 72,000 passengers.
At Haneda Friday morning, many JAL customers lined up for boarding procedures or refunds.
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002846877