Japan’s winter travel season has been thrown into fresh turmoil as a cluster of cancellations and delays involving ANA Wings, China Eastern Airlines, Japan Air Commuter and other regional carriers disrupted at least 31 flights and many more connections on January 22, 2026, snarling traffic at key airports in Osaka, Nanjing, Kagoshima, Komatsu, Fukuoka and surrounding hubs.

The problems, driven by a mix of severe weather, operational strain and already tight schedules on Japan’s domestic and China bound routes, left thousands of travelers rebooking on short notice or stuck in terminals from early morning through late evening.

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Wave of Cancellations Hits ANA Wings and Regional Japanese Networks

Domestic passengers bore the brunt of the latest disruptions, as ANA Wings, a key regional arm of the ANA Group, and Japan Air Commuter struggled to keep tightly timed feeder services running between secondary cities and major hubs. According to flight status data and airline advisories on January 22, dozens of short haul sectors were either canceled outright or faced substantial delays, forcing reconfigurations across the network as aircraft and crews fell out of position.

Kagoshima and Fukuoka in Kyushu, along with Komatsu on the Sea of Japan coast, emerged as particular pinch points. These airports are heavily reliant on turboprop and small jet operations to connect remote islands and regional centers to Osaka and Tokyo. When early morning rotations were scrubbed or delayed, knock on effects rippled into midday and evening services, reducing frequencies and leaving some smaller communities with sharply limited same day travel options.

ANA’s own systems highlighted the scale of the strain. While the group has been advertising extra seasonal flights over the New Year and winter peak to meet demand, its domestic operations page also directed passengers to online certificates of delay and cancellation, a routine measure during periods of significant disruption. For flights operated by partners such as Japan Air Commuter and Amakusa Airlines, ANA advised affected travelers to seek assistance at domestic airport counters or via its reservation center, underscoring how intertwined the regional network has become.

Although not every impacted service was high profile or long haul, the pattern of short hops being canceled in clusters can be especially painful for domestic travelers, who often rely on precisely timed connections to make hospital appointments, business meetings or family visits in less accessible parts of Japan.

China Eastern Cancellations Add Cross Border Strain Between Osaka and China

Compounding domestic difficulties, cross border traffic between Japan and China also faced fresh disruptions. China Eastern Airlines, already under pressure from a broader retrenchment in China Japan capacity, scrubbed multiple Japan bound and outbound services, including repeated cancellations of its Osaka Kansai to Wuhan flight MU2576 across several consecutive days surrounding January 22. Real time flight trackers on Thursday showed MU2576 from Kansai International Airport to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport listed as canceled, with the same status applied to earlier and subsequent dates.

For passengers in Osaka and the wider Kansai region, the cancellation of China Eastern flights has become a recurring headache. Even before the latest operational glitches, Chinese carriers had been trimming their Japan schedules, cutting hundreds of flights and dozens of routes in late 2025 and early 2026. Industry schedule data indicated that Chinese airlines collectively reduced Japan services by roughly a quarter for December 2025, while separate tallies cited more than 2,000 China to Japan flights already canceled for the early 2026 period.

Travelers who had planned to use Osaka as a gateway to central Chinese cities such as Wuhan, as well as onward domestic connections within China, suddenly found themselves facing last minute reroutes or forced overnight stays. Those with time sensitive business or medical itineraries were hit hardest, as alternative options frequently involved detours via larger hubs like Shanghai or Beijing, along with extended layovers.

The cancellations also underscored how dependent cross border travel between Japan and China remains on a handful of carriers and trunk routes. When a key service like Osaka Wuhan goes offline for several days in a row, there is limited slack in the system to absorb stranded passengers, particularly during winter when aircraft and crews are already stretched across weather disrupted networks in both countries.

Weather, Winter Peaks and Fragile Schedules Behind the Turmoil

A complex mix of seasonal and structural pressures lay behind the disruption that culminated in at least 31 flight cancellations and many more delays on January 22. Japan’s winter aviation system is highly vulnerable to heavy snow, gusty crosswinds and low visibility, particularly at coastal and regional airports such as Komatsu and parts of Kyushu. Even moderate weather disruptions early in the day can quickly cascade through dense domestic schedules built on short turnarounds and precise slot allocations.

The wider operational environment has been under stress throughout January. Just days earlier, Japanese and regional media reported that hundreds of flights had been canceled or delayed across Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Okinawa, Itami and Fukuoka as winter storms and strong winds swept across large parts of the country, affecting carriers ranging from ANA and Japan Airlines to smaller operators such as Air Do and ANA Wings. That earlier wave of more than 190 cancellations and well over 1,000 delays left many airlines scrambling to reposition aircraft and crews, a process that often takes several days to normalize.

On top of weather and residual knock on effects, airlines are navigating tight fleet capacity. ANA Holdings is in the midst of a strategic reorganization, including plans to close its AirJapan brand in March 2026 and consolidate operations under the mainline ANA and low cost Peach Aviation banners. The group has pointed to delayed aircraft deliveries, ongoing technical issues and maintenance requirements around its Boeing 787 fleet and global geopolitical pressures as constraints on flexibility. These factors can limit the spare aircraft available to plug gaps when regional flights are canceled at short notice.

In such an environment, even seemingly modest numbers of additional cancellations in a single day, spread across several airlines and airports, can create a sense of turmoil for travelers and ground staff alike. Domestic and regional aviation in Northeast Asia is operating with little margin for error during the busiest winter weeks.

Major Airports in Osaka, Nanjing, Kagoshima, Komatsu and Fukuoka Feel the Impact

At Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, passengers arriving for China Eastern’s Osaka Wuhan route and other impacted flights on January 22 found their plans upended by cancellation boards and revised departure times. Kansai is a critical international hub for western Japan, serving as a departure point for China, Southeast Asia and long haul services, and any disruption to regional feeders compromises connections further afield.

Nanjing Lukou International Airport, meanwhile, acted as a mirror image of Kansai’s challenges. With Chinese carriers already paring back Japanese routes for political and economic reasons, new operational cancellations left travelers in Nanjing facing narrowed options for reaching Osaka, Fukuoka and other Japanese cities. The lack of redundancy on many of these city pairs meant that rebooking often involved detours through Shanghai Pudong or other larger nodes, stretching journeys that should have taken a few hours into daylong odysseys.

In Kyushu, Kagoshima and Fukuoka airports experienced waves of delay notices as Japan Air Commuter, ANA Wings and other regional operators battled to keep island and remote routes functioning amid weather and aircraft rotation issues. Kagoshima, which serves as a vital link to the Amami Islands and other remote communities, is especially sensitive to disruptions. When its shuttles to larger hubs are delayed or canceled, residents can miss once daily ferries or onward flights, prolonging isolation and complicating logistics for everything from medical care to cargo deliveries.

Further north, Komatsu airport faced capacity constraints as winter conditions interfered with operations. The airport connects Ishikawa Prefecture and the Hokuriku region to Osaka, Tokyo and some international destinations. Irregularities in Komatsu’s schedule tend to reverberate through Japan’s domestic network, as aircraft cycling between Komatsu, Kansai, Haneda and other points find themselves off schedule and out of place, forcing operators to choose between canceling low demand legs or accepting rolling delays throughout the day.

Passengers Confront Long Queues, Confused Itineraries and Patchwork Support

For travelers caught in the middle of January 22’s turmoil, the experience was defined by long queues at ticket counters, overburdened call centers and rapidly shifting itineraries. At major hubs such as Osaka Kansai and Fukuoka, passengers waited for hours to speak with agents from ANA, Japan Air Commuter and China Eastern as they sought new routing options, seat availability on later flights or proof of disruption for insurance claims and hotel reimbursements.

Many domestic customers turned to online tools to obtain official certificates of delay or cancellation, which are often required for corporate travel documentation or to claim compensation from third parties. ANA’s own portal highlighted a self service function that allows travelers to generate documentation for domestic delays and cancellations over a six month window, although passengers on flights operated by partner carriers such as Japan Air Commuter were still directed to in person counters for formal paperwork.

Foreign tourists, especially those connecting between Chinese and Japanese carriers, faced an added layer of difficulty navigating multiple airline policies and language barriers. Reports from airports in both countries described stranded passengers struggling to determine whether rebooking was possible on other airlines within the same alliance or codeshare framework, or if their only option was full refunds and complete itinerary redesigns. With many of the canceled routes already operating at reduced frequencies, some travelers had to choose between multi day delays or costly last minute purchases on alternative carriers.

Despite the challenges, ground staff and cabin crews across affected airports worked extended shifts to rebook passengers, distribute refreshments and provide updates where possible. However, the patchwork nature of support systems, particularly when disruptions span multiple airlines and jurisdictions, meant that the overall experience for many remained frustrating and opaque.

Airlines Balance Short Term Disruption Management with Longer Term Restructuring

The latest wave of cancellations and delays came as several carriers involved are restructuring their networks and business models. ANA Holdings has already confirmed that it will wind down the AirJapan brand by late March 2026, folding the hybrid international operator’s aircraft and staff back into the mainline ANA operation. The move is intended to streamline the group’s structure and concentrate resources on two principal brands, but it also reflects a broader industry trend of tightening capacity and cautious expansion amid lingering financial and operational pressures.

China Eastern and other Chinese carriers have likewise been making significant adjustments to their Japan schedules. In the final months of 2025, industry route trackers documented repeated announcements from major Chinese airlines detailing the suspension of dozens of Japan routes and the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights in response to a combination of political tensions, softer demand and regulatory constraints. By the time isolated operational disruptions materialized in January 2026, the China Japan aviation market was already leaner and more vulnerable to small shocks.

Japan Air Commuter, a key lifeline carrier for remote islands and rural areas, continues to operate in a challenging environment where route economics are fragile and dependence on code sharing and support from larger partners such as JAL and ANA is high. When weather suspends flying in one region or engineering issues ground a particular aircraft type, replacing that capacity at short notice is often not realistic, particularly in winter when fleets are heavily utilized.

For passengers, these structural trends translate into fewer backup options when something goes wrong. While the number of flights canceled on a given day may be modest in absolute terms, the lack of alternative frequencies for specific city pairs magnifies the impact, turning what might once have been a routine half day delay into a multi day interruption of travel plans.

What Travelers Should Expect for the Remainder of the Winter Season

Looking ahead to the remaining weeks of the 2025 to 2026 winter season, industry observers expect Japanese domestic and regional travel to remain vulnerable to bouts of disruption, especially around cold fronts, snowstorms and heavy coastal weather. While airlines including ANA have scheduled additional seasonal services to accommodate strong leisure and homecoming demand, the same tight resource utilization that makes these extra flights possible leaves limited headroom when operations are challenged by weather or technical issues.

Passengers planning trips through key airports such as Osaka Kansai, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Komatsu and Nanjing are being urged by travel advisors to monitor flight status closely in the 24 to 48 hours before departure, make use of airline apps for real time notifications, and consider allowing longer connection times than usual for itineraries that string together domestic and international legs. Flexible tickets and travel insurance that covers missed connections and overnight delays are also being highlighted as prudent investments during this volatile period.

At the same time, the structural recalibration of capacity between China and Japan introduces an additional layer of unpredictability, as carriers weigh political and economic conditions when deciding whether to reinstate suspended routes or maintain reduced frequencies. Until there is a clearer stabilization in bilateral traffic rights and demand patterns, travelers relying on China Eastern and other Chinese airlines for links between Osaka, Nanjing, Wuhan and other city pairs are likely to face a stop start environment marked by periodic schedule changes.

For now, January 22 stands as another reminder of how exposed Northeast Asia’s intricate mesh of domestic and regional routes remains to a convergence of winter weather, tight capacity and geopolitical headwinds. With at least 31 flights scrubbed and many more delayed across a single day, thousands of passengers once again discovered how quickly carefully planned itineraries can unravel when multiple airlines, airports and national markets are all under simultaneous strain.