Fergie's Tech Blog

Computer Glitch Tangles Japanese Flights

Martyn Williams writes on PC World:

Hundreds of domestic flights in Japan were cancelled or delayed on Sunday as a result of a glitch in the computer system of All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd.

The problem hit data flowing between the airline's main reservations host computer and intermediate computers that handled downstream connections to terminals in airports, said Rob Henderson, a spokesman for ANA. The airline has the largest share of Japan's domestic air market.

Information flow between the intermediate computers and host computer was slowed by the glitch leading to a backlog of data that eventually clogged the system. The slowdown, which meant data was coming in several times slower than normal, eventually caused 130 cancellations and delays of more than an hour for 306 flights. Around 69,300 passengers were affected, said Henderson.

posted by Fergie @ 5/28/2007 12:23:00 PM