An aircraft model widely used by commercial airlines around the world needs a software solution to address an issue that contributed to a JetBlue plane suffering a sudden loss of altitude last month, the manufacturer and European air safety regulators said Friday.
The measure could cause some delay on flights.
Airbus said an analysis of the JetBlue incident found that intense solar radiation could damage data critical to the operation of flight controls on the A320 family of aircraft.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has issued an order requiring A320 operators to address the problem. The agency said this could cause “short-term changes” to flight schedules.
American Airlines has approximately 480 A320 family aircraft, of which 209 are affected. The fix should take about two hours for many aircraft, and the updates should be largely completed by Friday, the airline said. Some will be ready on Saturday.
American Airlines expects some delays but said it is focused on limiting cancellations as customers return home from Thanksgiving holiday travel. He stated that safety would be his top priority.
Delta said it expected the problem to affect fewer than 50 of its A321neo aircraft. United said six planes in its fleet were affected and expected minor disruptions to some flights. Hawaiian Airlines said this would not be affected.
Mike Stengel, a partner at aerospace industry management consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory, said the solution could be addressed between flights or during nighttime checks of aircraft.
“It is absolutely not ideal for this to happen on a ubiquitous aircraft during a busy (US) holiday weekend,” Stengel said. “Although the positive side is that it only takes a few hours to update the software.”
At least 15 JetBlue passengers were injured and were taken to the hospital after the October 30 incident aboard the flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey. The plane was diverted to Tampa, Florida.
Airbus is registered in the Netherlands, but has its headquarters in France.
Together with Boeing, it is one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world.
According to Stengel, the A320 is the main competitor to the Boeing 737. Airbus updated its engine in the mid-2010s and aircraft in this category are called A320neo, he said.
The A320 is the world’s best-selling single-aisle aircraft family, according to the Airbus website. ___
This story was translated from English by an AP editor using a generative artificial intelligence tool.
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