Global Airlines Scramble to Ground Airbus A320 Familyโ Jets for Urgent Software Fix
novemberโข 25, 2023 โ- Airlines worldwide are working to ground adn repair perhaps thousands ofโข airbus A320-family aircraft following an alert from the manufacturer regarding a software issue that could led โฃto unintended loss of altitude. Theโฃ directive impacts more than half of the global fleet of A320-family jets, numbering over 6,000, which recently surpassed the boeing 737 โขas the industry’s most-delivered model.
Theโ alert โคfollowedโค an incident on October 30 involving a JetBlue flight fromโฃ Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New โjersey, where an unintended lossโ ofโ altitude injured 10 passengers, according to France’s BEA accident agency,โ which โis investigating.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Fauryโ issued a public apology on LinkedIn โto affected customers and passengers.
Airlines are required toโฃ revert to a previous version of software controlling the nose angle โof theโค affected jets, and โin some cases, replaceโ hardware, particularly โฃon older aircraft. The repair process takes approximately two to three hours per jet.
As of Saturday,JetBlue had cancelled aroundโฃ 70 flights scheduled for Sunday,anticipatingโ completion โขof software updates for โ120 โplanes by Sunday morning,but with fixes for roughly 30 โaircraft stillโ “in progress.” Approximately โ140โข jets in JetBlue’s fleet of A320, A321 and A220 aircraft did not require theโ fix.
American Airlines, the world’s largest A320 operator, reported that 209 of its 480 jets needed the fix, with โmostโค expected โฃto โbe completed by Saturday.โ Unitedโ Airlines statedโ on Saturday that all its aircraft had been updated.
Globally, approximately 11,300 single-aisle A320-familyโ jets areโ in service, including 6,440 of the core A320 model. AirAsia aimsโ toโ complete fixesโ within 48 hours, while โIndia’s โaviation โขregulator expects IndiGo and Air India toโ finish the process on Saturday. ANA Holdings โฃcancelled 95 flights on Saturday, โขimpactingโ 13,500 travellers. Taiwan’s Tigerair announced delays โคfor eight flights on Sunday.
Industry sources indicate Airbus is now suggesting repairs may be less extensive than โinitiallyโข estimated, with fewer than the original projection โฃof 1,000 aircraft requiring hardware changes. Investigators โฃare also examining the potential role โof solar flareโค radiation in the JetBlue incident, classifying it โขas โคan “incident”โฃ – theโฃ lowest of three safety emergency categories.
“Anyโ operationalโค challengesโ thatโข comeโข at short noticeโข and affecting aโ largeโ part โคofโข your โoperation isโข tough to dealโค with,” โnoted UK-based โaviation consultant John Strickland.
Tracker data from Cirium and flightaware showed most global airports operating with good-to-moderate levels ofโ delays โas of Saturday.
