Airbus issues major A320 recall, threatening widespread global disruption

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The fix mainly involves reverting to earlier software and is relatively simple, but must be carried out before the planes can fly again, other than repositioning to repair centres, according to the bulletin to airlines seen by Reuters.

Numerous airlines from the United States to South America, Europe and India said late on Friday the repairs could potentially cause flight delays or cancellations.

Colombian carrier Avianca said the recall affected more than 70% of its fleet, seen at around 100 jets, causing significant disruption over the next 10 days and prompting the airline to close ticket sales for travel dates through December 8.

For about two-thirds of the affected jets, the recall will theoretically result in a brief grounding as airlines revert to a previous software version, industry sources said.

Still, that comes at a time when airline repair shops are already overrun by maintenance work, as hundreds of Airbus jets have been grounded due to long waiting times for separate engine repairs or inspections. The industry also faces labour shortages.

Sequencing the repairs at a time when demand is high and fleets are already facing maintenance delays is expected to be a major challenge, a senior airline industry source told Reuters.

Aviation analyst Rob Morris said the move raised questions over how much hangar capacity would be immediately available.

RECENT INCIDENT LEADS TO PROBE

Airbus said a recent incident involving an A320-family aircraft had revealed that solar flares may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.

That flight made an emergency landing at Tampa, Florida, after a flight control problem and a sudden uncommanded drop in altitude, prompting a Federal Aviation Administration investigation.

JetBlue and the FAA had no comment.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency late on Friday issued an emergency directive mandating the fix.

‘TWO HOUR REPAIR’

An Airbus spokesperson estimated the repairs would affect some 6,000 jets in total, mixed between several variants, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

The temporary groundings for repairs for some airlines could be much longer since more than 1,000 of the affected jets may also have to have hardware changed, the sources said.

Launched in 1984, the A320 was the first mainstream jetliner to introduce fly-by-wire computer controls.

Demand for the two main brands of workhorse jets has surged in recent years as economic growth led by Asia brought tens of millions of new travellers into the skies.

Originally designed to serve hubs, the single-aisle models were later widely adopted by low-cost carriers. The connections they provide now represent a significant slice of the economy.

The Airbus bulletin seen by Reuters traced the problem to a flight system called ELAC (Elevator and Aileron Computer), which sends commands from the pilot’s side-stick to elevators at the rear. These in turn control the aircraft’s pitch or nose angle.

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