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By Joe Edwards
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Several airlines both inside and outside of the U.S. said they were affected by a major recall of Airbus A320 models, after the company said on Friday that "intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls."
The software update needed to fix the problem would take around two hours per aircraft in most cases, and its necessity came to light after a JetBlue flight from Cancun to Newark suddenly lost altitude in October, Newsweek reported previously.
Newsweek reached out to Airbus for comment via email on Saturday.
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Why It Matters
The recall comes as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it expects the busiest Thanksgiving travel period in 15 years.
Reuters reported that the software change affects about 6,000 A320 aircraft—over half of Airbus’s worldwide A320-family fleet.
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What To Know
While not all airlines have been equally affected, below are some of the airlines that have issued updates on any potential service disruptions:
Columbian airline Avianca said its operations would be significantly affected between November 29 and December 8 by the required software update, as Airbus is the manufacturer for most of its fleet.
A United Airlines spokesperson told Newsweek the company has not been affected by the recall.
Reuters reported that American Airlines said 209 of its 480 A320 craft would need work, which was mostly expected to be complete by Saturday.
CBC News reported that a Delta Airlines spokesperson said updates to a small number of its Airbus A320 aircraft would likely be completed by Saturday morning. The outlet also reported that Air Canada wasn’t anticipating any operational impacts.
Air New Zealand said in a social media post that some of its flights would be disrupted by the required global software update.
Australian carrier Jetstar Airways said that all of its affected aircraft were expected to be ready to return to service overnight, and that flights would likely resume as planned on Sunday.
Per Reuters, Lufthansa and easyJet also said they would carry out repairs. Japan’s ANA cancelled 95 flights amid the recall on Saturday, the outlet also said.
Air India has 113 affected aircraft, according to Reuters. The outlet said that Air India expected some delays but no cancellations, while Air France was cancelling 35 flights.
What People Are Saying
Airbus said in a statement on Friday: "Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers. We apologize for the inconvenience caused and will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority."
What Happens Next
This year’s Thanksgiving travel period is expected to break records—with the American Automobile Association anticipating that nearly 82 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home from November 25 to December 1.
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