A significant issue affecting global aviation software prompted All Nippon Airways (ANA) (9202.T) / (ADR)(ALNPY) to ground nearly 100 domestic services, disrupting travel for thousands, Kyodo News reports.

All Nippon Airways announced on November 29, that a reported international software malfunction, believed to be impacting numerous Airbus SE aircraft, necessitated the cancellation of 95 internal services. This critical situation involved 34 of ANA’s A320 fleet, which required an urgent technical correction. The grounded services primarily affected travellers moving between Haneda airport in Tokyo and regional destinations, inconveniencing approximately 13,200 passengers in total.

For a major hub like Haneda, such large-scale disruptions can cause significant logistical headaches, especially for connecting flights and during peak travel periods, underscoring the severe knock-on effects of technical issues in modern aviation.

ANA extended its sincere apologies for the resultant inconvenience. The necessary software update for the 34 planes was anticipated to be finished by November 30, with the initial repair time estimate of four hours per aircraft proving to be a conservative figure, as the work took as little as two hours to complete. A further six flights scheduled for November 30 were also preemptively cancelled, forecast to impact about 530 individuals. Meanwhile, the nation’s other principal carrier, Japan Airlines Co., confirmed that its aircraft inventory remained operational. Airbus identified that powerful solar radiation could potentially corrupt vital flight control data after an incident in October where a JetBlue A320 abruptly descended.

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