Global airlines race to fix A320 jets after Airbus recall disrupts global travel

WASHINGTON – Airlines across the globe scrambled on Nov 29 to fix a software glitch on their Airbus A320 jets as a recall by the European planemaker temporarily grounded aircraft in Asia and Europe and threatened travel in the United States during the busiest weekend of the year.

The recall of 6,000 planes
, covering more than half of Airbus’ global A320 fleet, is among the broadest in its 55-year history and is a blow for the planemaker weeks after the A320 overtook the Boeing 737
as the most-delivered model.

Airlines worked through the night to make fixes after Airbus issued the emergency recall to 350 operators around the world, and global regulators directed carriers to remedy the software problem before resuming flights.

That appeared to help head off the worst-case scenario and capped the number of flight delays in Asia and Europe early on Nov 29.

The US was set to face high travel demand later in the day after the Thanksgiving holiday period.

“It’s not as chaotic as some people might think,” said Asia-based independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie, adding that airlines were always prepared for various potential disruptions.

“But it does create some short-term headaches for operations,” he added.

Airbus is also now telling airlines that emergency repairs to some of the A320 jets affected may be less burdensome than first thought, industry sources said, with fewer than feared likely to need hardware changes rather than the software fix.

Even so, industry executives said the abrupt action was a rare and potentially costly headache at a time when maintenance is under pressure worldwide from labour and parts shortages.

Globally, there are about 11,300 of the single-aisle jets in service, including 6,440 of the core A320 model.

Simple but needed

The fix mainly involves reverting to earlier software, and although relatively simple, it must be completed before the planes can fly again.

European low-budget airline Wizz Air said early on Nov 29 that software updates had been implemented overnight on all its affected A320 jets with no further disruption expected.

Flight tracker data from Cirium and FlightAware showed most global airports operating with good-to-moderate levels of delays.

AirAsia, one of the world’s largest A320 customers, said it aimed to complete fixes in 48 hours
, with engineering teams “working around the clock”.

India’s aviation regulator said 338 Airbus aircraft in India were affected by the glitch but said the software reset will be completed by Nov 30.

India’s largest airline, IndiGo, has completed the software reset on 143 out of 200 aircraft, the regulator said.

Air India, which has 113 impacted aircraft, has completed the reset on 42 aircraft. Both airlines warned of delays on Nov 29.

“There isn’t any major impact on schedule integrity across our network,” Air India posted on X. “However, some of our flights may be slightly delayed or rescheduled.”

Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration instructed airlines to conduct inspections and maintenance. It estimates that around two-thirds of the 67 A320 and A321 aircraft operated by the island’s carriers are affected.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Macao said it had asked Air Macau to address the issue, including rescheduling flights to minimise any disruption to passengers.

ANA Holdings, Japan’s biggest airline, cancelled 65 flights on Nov 29 and warned of more disruption on Sunday.

ANA and its affiliates, such as Peach Aviation, operate the most Airbus A320 jets in Japan. Its chief rival, Japan Airlines , has a mostly Boeing fleet and does not fly the A320. Nationwide, 95 flights were cancelled, according to public broadcaster NHK.

October incident triggered recall

Industry sources said a sharp loss of altitude on a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on Oct 30, that injured several passengers had triggered the Airbus recall.

Jetstar, the budget carrier of Australia’s flag carrier Qantas, said some of its flights would be affected by the recall. The Australian Broadcasting Corp reported significant delays at Melbourne airport.

South Korea’s Asiana Airlines said it does not expect any significant disruptions to its flight schedule, with only 17 of its aircraft affected by the recall. Its domestic rival, Korean Air, said it was working to get 10 of its jets back into service.

South Korea’s Transport Ministry said upgrades to 42 aircraft there were expected to be completed by the morning of Nov 30.

Hong Kong budget carrier HK Express said it had upgraded more than half its affected aircraft and that flight operations were normal.

The world’s largest A320 operator, American Airlines , said 340 of its 480 A320 aircraft needed the fix, most of which it expected to complete by Nov 29.

US carriers American, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and United Airlines are among the world’s 10 biggest A320-family operators.

Other airlines that said they would do the repairs include Germany’s Lufthansa, and Britain-based easyJet .

Colombian carrier Avianca said the recall affected more than 70 per cent of its fleet, prompting it to close ticket sales for travel dates through Dec 8. REUTERS