Airbus recall suspends flights around the world

Airbus announces recall of A320 planes Global airlines are racing this Saturday (29) to fix a software flaw in Airbus A320 model aircraft, after a recall by the French manufacturer left aircraft temporarily grounded in Asia and Europe — and threatened to affect travel in the United States during the busiest weekend of the year. The recall of 6,000 planes, which covers more than half of the world’s A320 family fleet, is one of the most extensive in its 55-year history and represents a setback for Airbus, weeks after the A320 surpassed the Boeing 737 as the most delivered model in history. Airbus orders urgent recall of A320 planes; Brazilian airlines say they will not be affected The companies worked overnight on Friday (21) to apply fixes after Airbus issued an emergency recall to 350 operators around the world, and global regulators ordered the companies to resolve the software problem before resuming flights. That appeared to avoid the worst-case scenario and limited the number of delays in Asia and Europe early Saturday. The US will face high travel demand later after the Thanksgiving holiday period. According to Reuters, Airbus is now informing companies that emergency repairs to some affected aircraft may be less labor intensive than initially thought, with fewer planes than feared needing hardware changes rather than simple software fixes. Still, industry executives say the abrupt measure is rare and potentially costly at a time when maintenance is already facing global pressures due to lack of labor and parts. The incident that prompted the action involved a JetBlue flight, which was going from Cancún, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey, on October 30, sources told Reuters. Flight 1230 made an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida, and several people were taken to the hospital after a flight control problem and a sudden, uncommanded drop in altitude. Simple but necessary fix There are around 11,300 Airbus aircraft in operation worldwide, of which 6,440 are the core A320 model. The fix proposed by the manufacturer is the installation of the previous software and, although relatively simple, it needs to be done before the planes can fly again. See how regulators and airlines around the world have acted after the manufacturer’s request: United States: American Airlines, the world’s largest A320 operator, reported that 209 of its 480 aircraft of the model needed the correction — a number revised downwards — and that the majority would be updated by today. Other US companies, such as Delta, JetBlue and United, are also among the top 10 operators of the A320 family. Europe: European low-cost airline Wizz Air said early Saturday that software updates were applied overnight to all of its affected A320s and that it did not expect further disruptions. Data from flight trackers Cirium and FlightAware showed that most global airports were operating with moderate to good delay levels. Colombia: Colombian Avianca reported that the recall affected more than 70% of its fleet, which led it to suspend the sale of tickets for travel until December 8th. India: India’s aviation regulator said 338 Airbus aircraft in the country were affected, but that software tuning would be completed by Sunday. The country’s largest airline, IndiGo, said it had completed the adjustment on 160 of its 200 planes, while Air India said it had done the same on 42 of the 113 impacted models. Both warned of delays. Taiwan: The Taiwan Civil Aviation Administration has instructed airlines to carry out inspections and maintenance. The entity estimates that around two-thirds of the 67 A320s and A321s operated in the territory were affected. Macau: The Macau Civil Aviation Authority said it had asked Air Macau to address the issue, including relocating flights to minimize the impact on passengers. Japan: ANA Holdings, Japan’s largest airline, canceled 95 flights on Saturday, affecting 13,500 travelers. ANA and its affiliates, such as Peach Aviation, operate the largest fleet of A320s in the country. Its main rival, Japan Airlines, has a mostly Boeing fleet and does not use the A320.

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