Airlines Respond to Airbus A320 Software Glitch
On Saturday, global airlines swiftly acted to rectify a software anomaly affecting Airbus A320 jets, as a partial recall initiated by Airbus disrupted hundreds of flights across Asia and Europe, jeopardising US travel during one of the year’s busiest weekends.
Numerous airlines reported potential delays and cancellations following an advisory from Airbus, warning that upwards of 6,000 A320 aircraft in operation may necessitate upgrades due to the identified software flaw.
Is the Airbus Software Issue Resolved? Are the Aircraft Operational?
A report from Reuters indicated that airlines undertook overnight efforts to correct the discrepancy after global regulatory bodies mandated remediation prior to the resumption of flight operations.
Several carriers, including United Airlines, Air India, Delta Air Lines, and Hungary’s Wizz Air, announced on Saturday they had either completed or were nearing completion of necessary adjustments to their fleets, with many asserting that their operations remained largely unaffected.
Less than a day after the Airbus alert, carriers such as American Airlines, IndiGo, and easyJet Plc—who collectively operate a significant number of A320S—reverted their fleets to an earlier software iteration, thus enabling them to maintain operations with minimal disruption, according to Bloomberg.
American Airlines, for instance, revealed on Saturday that merely four of its 209 affected aircraft still required maintenance. In a similar vein, Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Inc. separately noted that the software issue posed no operational challenges.
IndiGo confirmed it had executed a mandatory system upgrade across its entire A320-family fleet, asserting compliance with the latest safety protocols for all 200 aircraft. Air India reported successful resets on over 90% of its active A320 family aircraft needing an upgrade, as conveyed in a post on X.
Steven Greenway, CEO of Saudi carrier Flyadeal, commented that the timing of the recall, occurring late in the evening, mitigated the potential for greater disruption. The airline conveyed it had repaired all 13 affected jets and anticipated resuming standard operations by midnight.
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air Holdings Plc, which operates around 250 Airbus aircraft, announced that it had successfully implemented the upgrades on all impacted A320 family planes overnight, restoring flight operations to normalcy.
What Should Travellers Anticipate?
With heightened demand attributed to the Thanksgiving holiday, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asserted that the affected American carriers “have reported significant progress and are poised to meet the Sunday midnight deadline for all essential updates.”
“Travellers SHOULD NOT expect any substantive disruptions,” Duffy stated in a post on X, further affirming that all impacted US airlines are on track to finalise the requisite aircraft modifications by the imminent deadline.
What is the Nature of the Airbus Software Glitch?
On Friday, Airbus disclosed that elevated levels of solar radiation could compromise critical flight control data in numerous A320 family aircraft. Executing the necessary software updates to address this concern was predicted to yield operational interruptions.
The remedial update primarily entails reverting to earlier software versions; aircraft must complete this transition before being cleared for flight, as per an airline bulletin reviewed by Reuters. Several airlines cautioned that executing these repairs might lead to delays or cancellations.
Aircraft necessitating the adjustment must revert to the preceding software iteration, and data uploads are expected to require as little as 2 to 3 hours. However, approximately 1,000 older models required physical hardware upgrades and were temporarily grounded during the overhaul, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources.
This alert followed an incident involving a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on October 30, which resulted in a sudden loss of altitude, injuring 10 passengers. France’s BEA accident agency is conducting an investigation, according to multiple reports.
In response to the unforeseen recall, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury expressed sincere apologies to both airlines and passengers impacted by the situation.
“I wish to extend my heartfelt apologies to our airline customers and the passengers affected,” Faury remarked in a LinkedIn post.
How Many Aircraft Were Affected?
The European manufacturer indicated that over 6,000 aircraft were impacted by the glitch, representing more than half of the worldwide A320 fleet, thereby posing a risk of data corruption critical to flight control systems under specific conditions.
Source link: Livemint.com.
