Japan Airlines comes under cyberattack, flights delayed  

TOKYO: Japan Airlines (JAL), one of the country’s largest carriers, became a target of a cyberattack early Thursday, disrupting the airlines domestic and international flight schedule.

The cyberattack, which began at 7:24 am JST, affected critical systems connecting Japan Airlines’ internal networks to external platforms leading to suspended ticket sales and significant delays.

By 11:00 am, at least 24 domestic flights were delayed by more than 30 minutes, with international flights also impacted.

“We identified the issue and are monitoring system recovery. Ticket sales for flights departing today remain suspended,” the airline posted on X.

Local media reported that the airline’s app, baggage handling, and external communication tools, were affected. JAL temporarily disabled the network router which was identified as the cause of the disruption.

Despite the operational issues, the airline has assured that flight safety was not compromised.

GROWING CYBERSECURITY CONCERNS IN AVIATION

The JAL incident highlights increasing vulnerabilities in aviation IT systems. Earlier this week, American Airlines faced a temporary nationwide grounding due to technical issues.

In July, a global IT outage disrupted over 10,000 flights, underscoring the aviation industry’s reliance on interconnected digital platforms.

Previous high-profile breaches include Cathay Pacific’s 2018 attack, which exposed personal data of 9.4 million customers, and a massive cyberattack in Indonesia this year that affected over 40 government agencies, including airport operations.

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