Global air travel faces turbulence as Airbus issues major A320 recall

Airbus announced on Friday (Nov. 28) that it is requiring immediate repairs on 6,000 aircraft from its popular A320 series, issuing a major recall that covers more than half of all A320s in service.

The move risks major disruption during the busiest U.S. travel weekend of the year and could cause delays across the globe.

This issue is shaping up to be one of the largest recalls Airbus has faced in its 55-year history and follows only weeks after the A320 surpassed Boeing’s 737 as the world’s most-delivered aircraft. 

Repair work begins

When Airbus sent the notice to over 350 operators, roughly 3,000 A320-family planes were airborne at that moment, Reuters reports.

The required fix reportedly consists of rolling back to an earlier software version.

Although the procedure is straightforward, it must be completed before the aircraft can resume normal operations, except for limited ferry flights to maintenance facilities, according to a notice to airlines reviewed by Reuters.

Carriers across the United States, South America, Europe, India, and New Zealand cautioned that the repair work could lead to delays or cancellations.

American Airlines is the largest operator of A320-family jets worldwide and reports say that about 340 of its 480 aircraft will need the update.

The airline said it expects most of the work to be finished by Saturday (Nov. 27), with each plane requiring roughly two hours.

Several other carriers said they would temporarily withdraw aircraft from operation to complete the fixes, including Germany’s Lufthansa, India’s IndiGo, and UK-based easyJet.

Colombian airline Avianca reported that the recall covers over 70 per cent of its fleet, leading the company to halt ticket sales for travel dates through Dec. 8.

Among the world’s ten largest operators of A320-family aircraft, four are major U.S. carriers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and United Airlines.

Airbus said in a statement that a recent event involving one of its A320-family jets showed that strong solar radiation can interfere with data essential to the aircraft’s flight-control systems.

“Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers,” it said.

According to industry sources, the incident that prompted the sudden repair directive was a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on October 30, during which a sharp altitude drop injured several passengers.

Introduced in 1984, the A320 became the first major commercial aircraft to use computer-based fly-by-wire controls.

Its main rival is the Boeing 737 MAX, which was taken out of service globally for an extended period following two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019 that were attributed to flawed flight-control software.

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