Europe’s Airbus has ordered an immediate software change on a “significant number” of its best-selling A320 family of jets.
The move which will affect 6,000 of its widely used A320 family of jets, was announced on Friday, November 28, as the software glitch grows global disruption, Al Jazeera reported.
As per the orders the change of software must be carried out before the next routine flight, threatening cancellations or delays during one of the busiest travel weekends of the year in the United States and beyond.
Airbus said in a statement that a recent incident involving an A320-family aircraft had revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.
“Airbus has consequently identified a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in service which may be impacted,” the company said.
“Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers,” it added.
Industry sources said the incident that triggered the unexpected repair action involved a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on October 30, in which several passengers were hurt following a sharp loss of altitude.
Flight 1230 made an emergency landing at Tampa, Florida, after a flight control problem and a sudden uncommanded drop in altitude, prompting an investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency is due to issue an emergency directive mandating the fix, Airbus said.
The world’s largest A320 operator, American, in a statement added that about 340 of its 480 A320 aircraft require the software replacement, and it expects the majority of those fixes to be “complete today and tomorrow”, with about two hours required for each plane.
