Global airlines scrambled to fix a software glitch on Airbus A320 planes on Saturday as Airbus partially grounded hundreds of flights in Asia and Europe and threatened travel in the US during the busiest weekend of the year.
Many airlines have warned of delays and cancellations following an alert from Airbus that suggested up to 6,000 active A320s may need to be upgraded due to a software glitch.
Is the Airbus software bug fixed? Are the planes serviceable?
Airlines worked through the night after global regulators instructed them 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 that they had completed or nearly completed repairing their fleets. Many reported no impact on traffic.
Less than 24 hours after Airbus issued the warning, carriers including American Airlines, IndiGo and easyJet Plc, the largest operators of the A320, reverted to the previous version of software for most of their fleets, allowing them to maintain largely normal operations, Bloomberg reported.
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American Airlines said on Saturday that only four of its 209 affected planes still needed maintenance. Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Inc. separately stated that the A320 software issue had no impact on their operations.
IndiGo has announced the completion of a mandatory Airbus system upgrade across its A320 fleet, confirming that all 200 aircraft are now fully compliant with the latest safety requirements. Meanwhile, Air India has successfully completed a reset on more than 90% of its operational A320 family aircraft that required an update, the airline said in a post on X.
Steven Greenway, chief executive of Saudi Arabian airline Flyadeal, said the withdrawal occurred late in the evening, preventing more serious disruptions. The airline said it had repaired all 13 affected planes and planned to resume normal operations by midnight.
Hungarian discount airline Wizz Air Holdings Plc, with a fleet of around 250 Airbus aircraft, said it had completed upgrades to all affected Airbus A320 family aircraft overnight. Flight operations have now returned to normal.
Read also | The DGCA is asking airlines not to operate certain Airbus models after the software patch
What should travelers expect?
Amid high demand due to the Thanksgiving holiday season, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said affected US carriers “have reported great progress and are well on track to meet this Sunday midnight deadline to complete the work.”
“Travelers should NOT expect any major disruptions,” Duffy said in a post on X, adding that all affected U.S. airlines are scheduled to complete required aircraft work by the midnight Sunday deadline.
What is the problem with the Airbus software?
On Friday, Airbus announced that high levels of solar radiation could damage critical flight control data on many A320 family aircraft. Implementation of the necessary software updates to resolve this issue was expected to cause operational disruptions.
The update mainly involves reverting to earlier versions of the software, and the plane must undergo this change before it is allowed to fly again, according to an airline bulletin reviewed by Reuters. Several airlines have warned that completion of these repairs could cause delays or cancellations.
Read also | Air India, IndiGo warn of delays and longer check-in times after Airbus directive
Aircraft that require a fix must revert to the previous software version and the data upload will likely only take 2-3 hours. However, up to 1,000 older jets required a physical hardware upgrade and were grounded during maintenance periods, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the development.
Friday’s alert came after an inadvertent loss of altitude on a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey on October 30. The incident resulted in injuries to 10 passengers, and according to multiple reports, France’s BEA is investigating the accident.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury has apologized to airlines and passengers after the unexpected resignation.
“I want to sincerely apologize to our airline customers and passengers who are now affected,” Faury wrote on LinkedIn.
How many planes were hit?
The European manufacturer announced that more than 6,000 aircraft, representing more than half of the global A320 fleet, were affected by the defect, which under certain conditions could risk damaging data vital to flight control systems.
