Airbus has temporarily grounded thousands of A320-family aircraft after discovering that intense solar radiation can corrupt onboard flight-control computer data. The issue affects roughly 6,000 jets in the A318, A319, A320 and A321 range — about half of Airbus’s global fleet of that family.
The vulnerability came to light while investigating an October incident in which a JetBlue flight between the US and Mexico lost altitude unexpectedly and made an emergency landing in Florida; at least 15 people were injured. Airbus said that was the only such reported event.
Most planes can be returned to service with a software update. Airbus said about 5,100 aircraft need an update that typically takes around three hours. About 900 older aircraft require physical replacement of affected flight-control computers and cannot carry passengers until the hardware is changed; the timing for those aircraft depends on replacement-unit availability. Airbus apologised for the disruption and acknowledged the operational impact on passengers and carriers.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued an emergency airworthiness directive requiring the defect be addressed before affected aircraft carry passengers again. Planes may operate empty “ferry flights” to reach maintenance facilities for the work.
Airlines are managing the requirement differently. Lufthansa has said it may ground aircraft to perform the updates; some carriers expect only limited disruption. British Airways is not expected to be heavily affected. Wizz Air and Air India reported they are carrying out updates. EasyJet said it had already completed many updates, expected some short disruption and planned to return to full service quickly. In the US, American Airlines said 340 of its A320-family planes were affected and anticipated some delays while most updates are completed within days; Delta expected a limited impact. In Australia, Jetstar cancelled about 90 flights after confirming roughly a third of its fleet was impacted.
So far airport disruption in the UK has been limited: Gatwick reported some impact while Heathrow had not seen cancellations. The Civil Aviation Authority warned the directive may cause delays or cancellations in the coming days but stressed that flying remains very safe. The Transport Secretary praised the rapid identification of the issue and the industry’s response as evidence of strong global safety standards.
Technically, the problem involves software that calculates a plane’s altitude. Airbus found that at high altitudes intense solar radiation can intermittently corrupt the data used by that software. The A320 family uses fly-by-wire systems, where pilot inputs are interpreted by computers rather than transmitted directly through mechanical linkages; corrupted input or sensor data in those systems can therefore affect flight-control behaviour.
Regulators and airlines say the majority of affected aircraft can be returned to passenger service after the software update. However, the smaller group requiring hardware replacement means some aircraft will remain out of service for longer while parts and maintenance are scheduled, so localized disruptions are likely until replacements are completed.