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Global airlines rushed to address a software glitch in Airbus A320 jets on Saturday, as a partial recall by Airbus grounded hundreds of flights in Asia and Europe and threatened US travel during the busiest weekend of the year.
Several airlines warned of delays and cancellations after an alert from Airbus that suggested up to 6,000 active A320 planes may need an upgrade due to a software glitch.
Has the Airbus software glitch been fixed? Are the planes in operation?
Airlines worked overnight after being directed by global regulators to fix the problem before resuming flights, according to a Reuters report. Several carriers, including United Airlines, Air India, Delta Air Lines and Hungary’s Wizz Air, said on Saturday they had completed or nearly completed revamping their fleets. Many reported no impact on operations.
Less than 24 hours after Airbus issued the alert, the largest operators of the A320, including American Airlines, IndiGo and easyJet Plc, had rolled back the previous version of the software for most of their fleets, enabling them to maintain largely normal operations, Bloomberg reported.
American Airlines announced Saturday that only four of its 209 affected planes still required maintenance. Meanwhile, Delta Airlines Inc. and United Airlines Inc. Separately said the A320 software issue had no impact on their operations.
IndiGo has reported the completion of a mandatory Airbus system upgrade across its entire A320-family fleet, confirming that all 200 aircraft are now fully compliant with the latest safety requirements. Meanwhile, Air India has successfully completed the reset on more than 90% of its operating A320 family aircraft that required updates, the airline said in a post on Twitter.
Steven Greenway, CEO of Saudi carrier Flydeal, noted that the plane was recalled late in the evening, preventing more serious disruptions. The airline said it had repaired all 13 affected jets and planned to resume normal operations by midnight.
Wizz Air Holdings Plc, a Hungarian discount airline with a fleet of about 250 Airbus aircraft, said it completed the upgrade of all affected Airbus A320 family aircraft overnight. Flight operations have now returned to normal.
What should travelers expect?
Amid high demand due to the Thanksgiving holiday period, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said affected US carriers “have reported great progress, and are on track to meet the deadline of midnight this Sunday to complete the work.”
“Travelers should not expect any major disruption,” Duffy said in a post on X. He said all affected US airlines are on schedule to complete essential aircraft work by Sunday’s midnight deadline.
What is the Airbus software problem?
On Friday, Airbus announced that high levels of solar radiation could corrupt essential flight control data in several A320 family aircraft. Implementing the software updates required to fix this issue was expected to cause operational disruption.
According to an airline bulletin reviewed by Reuters, the update mainly involves rolling back older software versions, and planes must undergo this change before they are cleared to fly again. Several airlines cautioned that completing these repairs could lead to delays or cancellations.
Aircraft requiring correction will need to revert to a previous software version, and the data upload is likely to take at least 2 to 3 hours. However, more than 1,000 of the older jets required physical hardware upgrades and were grounded during the maintenance period, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the development.
Friday’s alert came after an unintentional loss of altitude on a JetBlue flight from Cancún, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey on Oct. 30. 10 passengers were injured as a result of the incident, and according to multiple reports, France’s BEA accident agency is investigating.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury apologized to the airline and passengers after the unexpected withdrawal.
“I want to sincerely apologize to our airline customers and the passengers who are now affected,” Fourie posted on LinkedIn.
How many planes were affected?
The European manufacturer reported that the glitch affected more than 6,000 aircraft, accounting for more than half of the worldwide A320 fleet, potentially posing a risk of significant data corruption to flight control systems under specific circumstances.
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