Air travel across several regions came under strain on Friday after Airbus issued an urgent alert warning that nearly six thousand A320 aircraft in active service may require immediate software upgrades, the notice followed a technical investigation into a recent mid air control malfunction and has forced airlines worldwide to delay or cancel numerous flights as they move to comply with precautionary safety instructions
Air France cancelled more than thirty flights and indicated that additional cancellations were expected on Saturday, the airline said it was evaluating the full operational impact and notifying passengers through SMS and email, Colombian carrier Avianca reported that about seventy percent of its fleet had been affected by the software issue raising concerns about significant disruptions over the next ten days
The alert was triggered after Airbus examined an incident involving a JetBlue A320 in late October, during that flight a computer malfunction caused the aircraft to suddenly nose down while travelling between Cancun and Newark forcing the crew to divert to Tampa for an emergency landing, several passengers sustained injuries according to local firefighters, the malfunction was linked to corrupted flight control data believed to be caused by intense solar radiation affecting onboard systems
Airbus instructed operators to take immediate precautionary action noting that a large number of A320 family aircraft could be vulnerable, the company explained that replacing the software would take only a few hours for most planes but nearly one thousand aircraft may require extended maintenance lasting weeks, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency confirmed being informed about the issue and cautioned that short term schedule disruptions were likely
Aerospace major Thales which manufactures the flight control computer said the hardware remains fully compliant with specifications and regulatory certifications but clarified that the software at the centre of the malfunction is not under its responsibility, Airbus issued a statement acknowledging that the required upgrades would cause operational disruption and apologised for the inconvenience faced by passengers and airlines
American Airlines said it had already begun updating software on roughly three hundred forty affected aircraft and expected most of them to be serviced by Saturday though delays were still anticipated, United Airlines stated it had not been affected, meanwhile the A320 family remains the world’s best selling aircraft with more than twelve thousand units delivered since production began in 1988
