Airlines working to fix software glitch on A320 planes, causing short-term flight disruptions
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Airlines around the world reported short-term disruptions ahead of the weekend as they patched software on a widely used commercial plane, after an analysis found that computer code may have contributed to a sudden drop in altitude on a JetBlue plane last month.
Airbus said Friday that a review of the JetBlue incident found that intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to the operation of flight controls on the A320 family of planes.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has joined the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in requiring airlines to fix the problem with a new software update.
The EU security agency said this could lead to “short-term disruption” to flight schedules.
The problem was introduced by a software update to the plane’s onboard computers, according to the agency.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury apologized to customers after required fixes caused “significant logistical issues and delays”.
European aerospace giant Airbus has warned that its flights will be disrupted after demanding immediate changes to thousands of its fleet of A320 planes. Six thousand planes will need to be repaired before they can fly again after pilots briefly lost control of a plane in mid-flight.
“Our teams are working around the clock to support our operators and ensure these updates are deployed as quickly as possible to get planes back in the sky and resume normal operations, with the security assurance you expect from Airbus,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post on Saturday.
In Japan, All Nippon Airways, which operates more than 30 planes, canceled 65 domestic flights on Saturday. Additional cancellations on Sunday would be possible, he said.
Thanksgiving disruptions in the United States
The software change comes as U.S. passengers began returning home after the Thanksgiving holiday, which is the country’s busiest travel period.
American Airlines has approximately 480 A320 family aircraft, of which 209 are affected.
The fix is expected to take about two hours for many planes, and updates should be completed for the vast majority by Friday, the airline said. On Saturday, the airline said in a statement that only four planes still needed to be updated and that it “does not expect any further operational impact.”
Air India said on There have been no cancellations, it is specified.
Delta said it expected the problem to affect fewer than 50 of its A321neo planes.
United said six planes in its fleet were affected and that it expects minor disruptions to a few flights. Hawaiian Airlines said it was not affected.
European flights return to normal
In France, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the situation had stabilized as several software updates had already been installed. He told BFM-TV that the impact was limited in the country with an “almost complete return to normal in French airports”.
In the UK, disruptions were also minimal. British Airways, for example, said only three of its planes required the update, while EasyJet said its flight schedule could be changed as a result of the update, in which case passengers would be notified.
German airline Lufthansa said most of the software updates were carried out overnight and on Saturday morning.
No Lufthansa Group Airlines flights are expected to be canceled due to the current situation, but there could be minor delays over the weekend, it said. Scandinavian company SAS said its flights were operating normally on Saturday, after teams worked through the night to install the required software.
Mike Stengel, a partner at aerospace industry management consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory, said the problem could be fixed between flights or during nighttime plane checks.
“It’s certainly not ideal for this to happen on a very ubiquitous aircraft on a busy holiday weekend,” Stengel said from Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Even again, the positive side is that updating the software should only take a few hours.”
At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and taken to hospital after the Oct. 30 incident aboard the flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, Florida.
Airbus, registered in the Netherlands but headquartered in France, is one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world, alongside Boeing. The A320 is the main competitor to Boeing’s 737, Stengel said.
Airbus updated its engine in the mid-2010s and planes in this category are called A320neo, he said. The A320 is the world’s best-selling family of single-aisle aircraft, according to the Airbus website.
